1 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

AfiCHIITECTDHE  LIB. 

GIFT  OF 

MRS.  CHARLES  SUMNER  GREENE 

AND  NATHANIEL  GREENE 

FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
CHARLES  SUMNER  GREENE 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


NEWNES'  LIBRARY  OF 


THE    APPLIED    ARTS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/frenchfurnitureOOsaglrich 


Frontispiece 


CUPBOARD.     XVI  Century.     School  of  Du  Cerceau. 
Cluny  Museum 


FRENCH 
FURNITURE 

BY  ANDRE  SAGLIO 


LOTMDON 

GEORGE  NEWNES  LIMITED 

SOUTHAMPTON  ST.  STRAND  W.C 
NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCR1BNER:S  SONS 


Architecture 


Add'l 


GIFT 


CONTENTS 


5  3> 


ARCH. 
UBRARY 


Introduction 

I.  The     Gauls,     the     Gallo-Romans     and     the 
Invaders  of  Gaul  .... 

II.  The  Fourteenth  Century 

III.  The  Fifteenth  Century   .         .         .         .         , 

IV.  The  Renaissance      ..... 

V.  Henri  II.  and  the  Second  Half  of  the  Six 

teenth  Century  ..... 
VI.  The   Seventeenth  Century    before    the   Ac 
cession  of  Louis  XIV. 
VII.  The  Reign  of  Louis  XIV. 
VIII.  The  Regency  and  Louis  XV. 
IX.  Louis  XVI.,  the  Revolution  and  the  Empire 
Useful  Books  of  Reference 
Index        


PAGE 

I 


5 

24 

34 
49 

63 

82 

lOI 

126 

143 
167 

173 


520 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  PAGE 

CUPBOARD,    Sixteenth  Century,   School   of  Du 
Cerceau.     Cluny  Museum        .  Frontispiece 

I.     CHEST,  Fifteenth  Century.     Cluny  Museum        .       36 

II.     CUPBOARD,  end  of  Fifteenth  Century.     Louvre 

Museum         .......       44 

III.  STALL,  end  of  Fifteenth  Century.     Paris  Exhibi- 

tion, 1900      .......       46 

IV.  RENAISSANCE  ARM-CHAIR.  Louvre  Museum       50 
V.     RENAISSANCE  CHAIR.     Palace  of  Compiegne       52 

VI.     RENAISSANCE  CHAIR.     Palace  of  Compiegne       53 

VII.     RENAISSANCE  DRESSER.     Louvre  Museum  .       54 

VIII.     MISERERE    STALL,    beginning    of    Sixteenth 

Century.     Abbey  of  St.  Denis  .         .         .         -58 

IX.     CHEST,  beginning  of  Sixteenth  Century.      Cluny 

Museum,  Paris        .         .         .         .         .         .62 

X.     CARVED    WOOD  CHAIR,  Sixteenth  Century. 

Belonging  to  M.  Chabriere-Arles       ...       64 

vii 


.FRENCH  FURNITURE 

PLATE  PAGE 

XI.     BED  OF  DUKE  ANTOINE  DE  LORRAINE, 

Sixteenth  Century.     Nancy  Museum         .         .       66 
XII.     DRESSER,     after    an    Engraving     by    Jacques 

Androuet  du  Cerceau 68 

XII A.     BED,  after  an  Engraving   by   Jacques  Androuet 

du  Cerceau    .......       68 

XIII.  CUPBOARD  by  Hugues  Sambin,  Middle  of  Six- 

teenth Century.    Arconati-Visconti  Collection    .       70 

XIV.  CUPBOARD,  Middle  of  Sixteenth  Century .         .       72 

XV.     SIDEBOARD,  epoch  Francis  I.      Cluny  Museum       72 

XVI.  PANEL  OF  CUPBOARD,  School  of  Hugues 
Sambin.  Middle  of  Sixteenth  Century.  Boy 
Collection 72 

XVII.     TABLE,    Second    half    of    Sixteenth    Century. 

School  of  Hugues  Sambin        .         .         .         •       74 

XVIII.     CHEST,  Middle  of  Sixteenth  Century.    Carnavalet 

Museum,  Paris 74 

XIX.     DRESSER,  Second  half  of  Sixteenth   Century. 

School  of  Du  Cerceau 76 

XX.     TABLE,  Second  half  of  Sixteenth  Century.    School 

of  Hugues  Sambin.     Dijon  Museum         .         .       76 

XXI.  CHEST,    Second    half    of    Sixteenth    Century, 

Louvre  Museum     .         .         .         .         .         '76 

XXII.  DRESSER,    Second   half  of  Sixteenth  Century. 

Garde  Meuble  National,  Paris .         .         .         .78 

viii 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  PAGE 

XXIII.  DRESSER,  Second  half  of  Sixteenth  Century. 

Louvre  Museum        .         .  .         .         .80 

XXIV.  CHEST,   end  of  Sixteenth   Century.     Louvre 

Museum  .......       80 

XXV.     CHAIR,  Louis  XIH.     Cluny  Museum    .         .       82 

XXVI.     ARM-CHAIR,    epoch    Louis    XIII.      Cluny 

Museum  .......       84 

XXVII.     CHAIR,epochLouisXIII.    Palace  of  the  Elysee       84 
XXVIII.     EBONY  CHEST,  epoch  Louis  XIII.     Palace 

of  Fontainebleau        .  .         .         .         .86 

XXIX.     EBONY  CHEST,    beginning   of   Seventeenth 

Century.     Cluny  Museum .         .         .         .90 

XXX.  CHEST  OF  DRAWERS  of  Louis  XIV.  at 
Versailles :  attributed  to  Charles  Boulle. 
Bibliotheque  Mazarin  .  -      .         .         .104 

XXXI.     CHEST,  epoch  Louis  XIV.   Palace  of  Versailles     104 

XXXII.     CUPBOARD,    by    Charles     Cressent,     epoch 

Regence.     Chappey  Collection    .         .         .126 

XXXIII.  COMMODE  of  the  Regency  Period,  by  Charles 

Cressent.     Wallace  Collection     .         .         .126 

XXXIV.  GILDED  REGENCE  TABLE.     Collection  of 

Mme.  Brach 126 

XXXV.     LARGE  REGENCE  DESK.    Louvre  Museum     126 

XXXVI.     CHEST    OF    DRAWERS,    epoch    Regence. 

In  the  Bishop's  Residence  at  Meaux    .         .     126 
b  ix 


PLATE 
XXXVII. 


XXXVIII. 


XXXIX. 


XL. 
XLI. 


XLII. 


XLIII. 


XLIV. 


XLV. 


XL  VI. 


XLVII. 


XLVIII. 


XLIX. 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

PAGE 

TABLE,  epoch  Regence.  Retrospective  Ex- 
hibition, Paris 126 

CONSOLE,    epoch    Louis    XV.       Carnavalet 

Museum,  Paris  .         .         .         .         -128 

CONSOLE,  epoch  Louis  XV.      Collection  of 

M.  de  le  Breteche 130 

SOFA,  Louis  XV.     Palace  of  Versailles    .         .130 

CORNER    CUPBOARD,    epoch    Louis   XV. 

Greffuhle  Collection 134 

WRITING-TABLE  &  CABINET,  Louis  XV., 

Mahogany,  inlaid  with  Sevres  Plaques.         .     136 

LOUIS  XV.  COMMODE,  by  Jacques  Caffieri. 

In  the  Wallace  Collection  .         .         .         .138 

CHEST    OF    DRAWERS,  epoch  Louis  XV. 

In  the  Prefecture  of  Indre-et-Loire      .         .140 

MEDAL  CABINET,    by   Slodtz.      From   the 

private  apartments  of  Louis  XV.  at  Versailles     140 

LOUIS  XV.  SECRETAIRE,  with  Marqueterie 
inlaid  with  Sevres  Panels.  South  Kensington 
Museum  .......     140 

LOUIS  XV.  WRITING-TABLE,  Mahogany 
inlaid  with  Sevres  Plaques.  South  Ken- 
sington Museum        .         .         .         .         .140 

SMALL    DESK,    by    Riesener.        Reign    of 

Louis  XVI.       ......     144 

ARM-CHAIR,  covered  with  Beauvais  Tapestry, 

Louis  XVI.     South  Kensington  Museum     .     146 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  PAGE 

L.     LOUIS    XVI.    SOFA.        Palace  of   the  Petit 

Trianon,  Versailles     .         .         .         .         .146 

LI.     SOFA,   epoch    Louis   XVI.       Palace   of    the 
Elysee,  Paris     ...... 

LIT.     APPLIQUE,  by  Gouthiere,  epoch  Louis  XVI. 
Grandjean  Collection  .... 

Liii.     CONSOLE,   beginning  of  Louis  XVI.   epoch. 

Garde  Meuble  National,  Paris 
Liv.     CONSOLE,  epoch  Louis  XVI.       Ministry  of 
the  Interior,  Paris      ..... 

Lv.     SMALL  DESK,  by  Weisweiler.      Louis  XVI. 
epoch       ....... 

LVi.     EMPIRE  ARM-CHAIR.     Palace  of  Fontaine- 
bleau        ....... 

LVii.     CHEST     OF     DRAWERS,     First      Empire. 

Garde  Meuble  National,  Paris 
LViii.     CHEVAL-GLASS,  First  Empire.  Garde  Meuble 
National,  Paris ...... 

Lix.  JEWEL  CABINET  of  Queen  Marie  Antoinette. 
Designed  by  Schwerdfeger,  Degault,  Roentgen 
and  Thomire.     Palace  of  Versailles      .         .160 


146 

148 

150 
152 
154 
156 


XI 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


INTRODUCTION 

HE  history  of  furniture  in  a  coun- 
try of  a  civilisation  so  old  and  so 
brilliant  as  that  of  France  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  a  technical 
review  of  archaeology  or  art.  It  is 
the  history  of  the  very  soul  of  a  people,  with 
its  alternations  of  grandeur  and  of  degrada- 
tion, of  achievement  and  of  failure  ;  in  a  word, 
it  is  the  history  of  the  inner  life  of  a  nation, 
a  life  that  is  too  often  overlooked  in  studying 
the  glorious  or  tragic  episodes  in  which 
kings  and  nobles  overshadow  their  subjects. 
Yet  those  subjects  are  as  important  as 
dynasties  in  the  annals  of  history.  Turn,  for 
instance,  for  a  moment  from  the  accounts  of 
the  victories  of  this  or  that  conqueror  to  the 
home  of  some  one  of  the  men  whose  destinies 
he  controls.  How  sudden  is  the  change  to 
gloom !  The  furniture  is  of  the  very  simplest 
description,  ready  for  immediate  flight  or  ex- 
ile, and  its  owner's  poverty  proves  that  art  and 
industry  are  alike  paralysed.  Some  other  ruler 
who  has  left  behind  him  a  great  reputation 

A  I 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

for  luxury  and  generosity,  if  judged  by  the 
unbridled  extravagance  indulged  in  in  every 
household  during  his  reign,  will  appear  in  the 
novel  character  of  a  disorganiser  of  domestic 
economy.  The  intellect,  the  conscience, 
the  vital  force  of  a  race  is  often  concealed 
behind  the  deceptive  personalities  of  its 
chiefs,  and  it  is  really  in  studying  the  con- 
dition of  the  people  that  an  insight  can  be 
obtained  into  their  moral  history.  For  this 
reason,  it  is  desirable  to  bring  something  more 
than  a  mere  artistic  curiosity  to  bear  upon  the 
changes  which  in  the  course  of  centuries  have 
taken  place  in  such  furniture  as  tables,  seats, 
and  beds,  for  these  humble  objects  have  been 
the  inseparable  companions  of  many  owners 
through  many  vicissitudes. 

To  these  general  considerations,  applicable 
to  the  study  of  domestic  art  in  every  country, 
we  must  add  one  which  has  special  reference 
to  the  genius  of  France,  and  will  be  to  some 
extent  the  guiding  principle  of  this  book. 
The  sons  of  the  soil  in  that  country  were 
never,  strictly  speaking,  inventors,  they  never 
evolved  the  primary  germ  of  a  new  style  ;  but 
they  had  a  marvellous  gift  for  assimilating 
the  foreign  ideas  with  which  they  were 
brought  in  contact,  and,  as  it  were,  recasting  in 
the  powerful  crucible  of  their  brain  enfeebled, 
incomplete,  or  decadent  exotic  conceptions, 

2 


INTRODUCTION 

issuing  them  anew  to  the  world  in  the  form 
of  works  instinct  with  vigour  and  vitality,  and 
stamped  with  the  grace  and  truth  of  propor- 
tion that  are  the  distinctive  characteristics  of 
French  taste.  The  great  events,  whether  of 
peace  or  war,  which  brought  the  French  into 
communication  with  other  nations  were  there- 
fore, it  is  evident — as  will  be  proved  in  the 
course  of  our  narrative — the  natural  causes  of 
the  succession  of  different  styles  which  arose 
in  France  during  the  course  of  some  two 
thousand  years. 

We  take  up  our  story  at  the  birth  of  the 
French  national  character — the  result  of  a 
happy  fusion  of  Romano  and  Celtic  elements  ; 
we  lay  it  down  on  the  threshold  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  for  in  our  opinion  the  modern 
period  is  essentially  one  of  transition,  during 
which  popular  taste  is  unconsciously  and,  as 
it  were,  secretly  adapting  the  home  of  the  day, 
to  the  requirements  and  theories  that  are  the 
outcome  of  an  age  of  unparalleled  scientific 
progress.  It  is  indeed  always  somewhat  rash 
to  criticise  work  without  making  allowance 
for  the  natural  recoil  of  time,  and  contem- 
poraneous opinion  is  ever  ready  to  recog- 
nise the  decadence  of  its  own  epoch.  The 
laudator  temporis  acti  does  not  date  from  the 
time  of  Horace  only,  and  we  should  hesitate 
long  before  we  lose  confidence  in   a  people 

3 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

such  as  the  French,  who  have  proved  them- 
selves able  during  so  many  centuries  to  give 
birth  to  great  revivals  at  the  very  moment 
when  their  creative  vigour  appeared  to  be 
finally  exhausted. 

Andre  Saglio. 


THE  FIRST  CHAPTER 

THE  GAULS,  THE  GALLO-ROMANS, 
AND  THE  INVADERS  OF  GAUL 

HEN  the  Romans  took  posses- 
sion of  Gaul  they  had  to  contend 
with  a  strong,  intelligent,  and 
numerous  population,  divided 
into  a  multitude  of  tribes,  the 
civilisation  of  which  could  only  be  called 
barbarous  when  compared  with  the  extra- 
ordinary development  of  Italy.  In  his  *' Com- 
mentaries "  Caesar  recognises  this  civilisation, 
and  does  not  fail  to  acknowledge  the  skill  of 
the  conquered  tribes  in  the  construction  of 
fortified  cities  or  the  wisdom  of  their  legis- 
lators ;  but,  unfortunately,  he  is  silent  on  the 
details  of  their  domestic  life,  which  must  have 
been  familiar  to  every  one  in  his  day.  Not  a 
trace,  not  so  much  as  a  memory,  now  remains 
of  Gallic  furniture ;  even  conjecture  is  for- 
bidden in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  very 
language  spoken  from  the  English  Channel 
to  the  Mediterranean  no  more  than  twenty 
centuries  ago  has  become  a  mystery ;  and  in 
the  tombs  that  have  been  opened  nothing  but 
a  few  weapons  and  jewels  have  been  found. 
These  relics,  however,  confirm  the  belief  in 

5 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

the  skill  of  the  Gauls  in  working  metal,  whilst 
the  tradition  that  they  were  the  first  coopers 
points  to  their  having  been  clever  at  turning 
and  shaping  wood. 

The  sudden  and  apparently  complete 
swallowing  up  of  Gallic  civilisation  in  Latin 
manners  and  customs,  makes  it  impossible  to 
begin  the  study  of  French  furniture  before  the 
earliest  owners  of  the  soil  had  become  so 
merged  in  their  conquerors  as  to  form  with 
them  but  a  single  race — the  Gallo-Romans. 
At  the  same  time  may  be  said  to  have  been 
evolved  the  first  germ  of  the  essentially 
French  character  so  admirably  adapted  to  art 
development,  which  was  the  outcome  of  the 
fusion  between  barbarian  audacity  and 
imagination  and  Latin  sense  of  proportion 
and  adaptability. 

Less  than  a  century  after  the  conquest  the 
conical  roofed  mud  huts  of  the  Celts  were 
replaced  by  villas  built  and  furnished  in  imita- 
tion of  those  of  Italy,  of  which  Gaul  was  now 
a  province,  and  the  sole  aim  of  their  designers 
was  to  copy  the  lavish  luxury  of  the  masters 
who  had  reduced  the  whole  world,  as  well  as 
Gaul,  to  subjection.  Unbridled  indulgence  in 
the  pleasures  of  the  appetite  became  as  much 
the  fashion  with  the  wealthy  citizens  of 
Roman  Gaul  as  with  the  patricians  of  the 
capital — dining-tables  were  inlaid  with  costly 
6 


THE  GAULS 

marqueterie,  rich  furs  and  embroidered 
cushions  adorned  the  couches  on  which  the 
guests  reclined.  A  fifth-century  Bishop  of 
Lyons,  Sidonius  Apollinaris,  has  left  us  a 
description  in  elegant  verse  of  a  fete  at  the 
house  of  one  of  his  contemporaries,  and  his 
indulgent  Christian  spirit  displays  nothing 
but  admiration  for  the  luxurious  accessories 
of  the  feast.  '*  The  end  of  the  day  approaches," 
he  says,  '*  let  wine,  dancing,  and  merry- 
making delight  its  closing  hours.  Here  are 
couches  draped  with  purple,  revellers  eagerly 
drinking  purple  nectar.  Behold !  all  is  luxury ; 
everything  is  glittering ;  the  eye  is  charmed 
at  every  turn.  Here  is  furniture  from  Asia, 
there  furniture  from  Greece  ;  everywhere  are 
sculptures  and  paintings,  sanguinary  hunting 
scenes  in  which  no  life  is  lost,  groups  of 
wounded  men  where  not  a  drop  of  blood  is 
shed.  It  is  indeed  a  pleasure  to  wander 
amongst  the  masses  of  bloom  drooping  from 
the  plants  in  the  alabaster  urns,  to  yield  the 
body  to  the  seductions  of  the  graceful  and 
languid  dance,  and  to  mimic  the  trembling 
limbs  of  the  Bacchantes  overcome  by  wine ! 
.  .  .  Here  blooms  the  cytisus,  the  lily,  and  the 
jonquil.  .  .  .  Already  the  incense  brought 
from  its  native  land  of  Arabia  is  burning  in 
the  swinging  lamps,  its  smoke  rising  up  to 
the  gorgeous  roof !  ..." 

7 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

At  the  very  timewhen  the  Bishop  was  thus 
celebrating  the  delights  of  this  refined,  but 
effeminate  life,  Roman  Gaul  was  already  being 
invaded  by  the  barbarians  of  the  East  and 
North.  These  were  the  Germani,  of  whom 
the  Franci,  or  Franks,  were  but  a  tribe  ;  the 
Burgundii,  succeeded  by  the  Huns ;  the 
Avars,  and  the  Goths.  Fierce  warriors, 
ignorant  of  art  and  intellectual  culture,  they 
had  but  the  savage  passion  for  brilliant-look- 
ing objects,  such  as  precious  metals — which, 
by  the  way,  they  knew  how  to  work,  probably 
through  their  Asiatic  traditions — and  though 
Attila  himself  chose  to  affect  simplicity  in  the 
presence  of  the  Roman  ambassadors  by  eating 
out  of  a  wooden  platter  and  sitting  on  a 
simple  stool,  the  Avar  chiefs  who  succeeded 
him  used  couches  of  embossed  gold  with 
silken  draperies,  which  served  them  alike  as 
beds  and  thrones.  The  Goths,  especially, 
amassed  an  enormous  treasure,  alluded  to  by 
Gregory  of  Tours  and  Fredegarius,  which, 
amongst  other  valuables,  included  a  table 
formed  of  a  single  emerald  encircled  with 
three  rows  of  pearls,  and  upheld  by  sixty-five 
feet  of  solid  gold  encrusted  with  precious 
stones,  the  total  value  of  which  was 
estimated  at  five  hundred  thousand  pieces  of 
gold.  The  ravages  committed  by  these  hordes, 
who  flung  themselves  upon  the  Roman 
8 


THE  GAULS 

Empire,  suffering  as  it  then  was  from  an 
excess  of  luxury,  were  far  less  destructive  than 
is  generally  supposed.  The  Iconoclasts  who, 
with  ferocious  delight,  broke  to  pieces  works 
of  art  were  but  a  small  minority  of  degraded 
tribes.  The  greater  number  of  the  invading 
hosts  had  indeed  a  certain  technical  skill  of 
their  own  that  was  by  no  means  to  be 
despised,  as  proved  by  the  jewellery  that  has 
during  the  last  fifty  years  been  dug  up  all 
over  Europe  ;  they  pillaged  a  great  deal  more 
than  they  destroyed,  and  often,  with  some 
crude  notion  of  religion,  they  enriched  the 
churches  of  France  and  Italy  with  their 
plunder.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
Attila  had  his  own  portrait  painted  in  a 
palace  at  Milan,  and  that  Theodoric  appointed 
a  magistrate  whose  special  business  it  was  to 
look  after  the  preservation  of  the  masterpieces 
of  antiquity.  The  barbarians  were  really  am- 
bitious of  continuing  to  live  in  the  luxurious 
style  of  the  Romans,  but  in  their  coarseness 
and  ignorance  they  only  recognised  the  ex- 
ternal evidences  of  that  luxury,  without  com- 
prehending that  the  source  of  its  refined 
delights  was  the  intellectual  culture  of  the 
Latin  race.  This  will  explain  how  it  was  that 
domestic  art  in  Gaul,  instead  of  spreading 
rapidly,  was  merely  gradually  transformed 
into    the    heavy,   massive    style    that    very 

B  9 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

distinctly  dominates  the  architectural  tradi- 
tions of  the  Latin  races,  and  is  known 
in  art  history  as  the  Romanesque — a  title 
which  enshrines  the  old  familiar  name  of 
'*  Roman." 

To  understand  the  subject  now  under 
notice  it  is  necessary  briefly  to  consider  the 
tendencies  of  the  earliest  Frankish  kings, 
amongst  whom  the  exclusive  love  of  shining 
metal  completely  dominated  their  interest  in 
art.  To  own  silver  dishes  and  golden  cups 
easily  carried  about  in  the  vicissitudes  of 
war,  represented  to  them  the  very  height 
of  luxury  and  good  fortune.  Thierry  gave 
Clotaire  a  silver  dish  to  make  amends  for  an 
attempt  at  assassination ;  and  a  valuable  vase, 
now  at  Soissons,  was  the  cause  of  the  famous 
quarrel  between  Clovis  and  his  warriors.  By 
slow  degrees  all  aesthetic  refinement  became 
concentrated  in  the  abbeys,  where  certain  in- 
tellectual traditions  were  preserved,  although 
a  certain  St.  Ouen  in  his  history  takes 
Tullius  Cicero  for  two  distinct  personages, 
and  the  biographer  of  St.  Bavon  commits 
himself  to  the  assertion  that  the  Latin 
language  predominated  in  Athens  during  the 
ascendancy  of  Pisistratus.  Some  few  religious 
houses  became  positive  art  manufactories, 
under  the  liberal  patronage  of  the  kings  and 
of  private  citizens    of  wealth,  jewellery,  of 

10 


THE  GAULS 

course,  being  the  chief  product.  When  CIo- 
taire  wished  to  have  a  throne  made  that  should 
be  worthy  of  his  important  position,  he  chose 
a  humble  artisan  from  Limoges  to  do  the 
work — an  artisan  who  later  became  celebrated, 
and  is  still  dear  to  the  memory  of  the  French 
under  the  name  of  St.  Eloi.  A  man  of 
great  gifts  and  of  the  highest  integrity,  St. 
Eloi  retained  the  favour  of  two  kings,  and  to 
him  is  due  the  credit  of  raising  the  making 
of  jewellery  in  France  to  the  importance  of  a 
fine  art,  whilst  he  at  the  same  time  kept  up 
the  intimate  connection  between  work  and 
religion.  He  converted  a  property  given  to 
him  by  Dagobert,  the  successor  of  Clotaire, 
into  a  great  atelier  for  the  working  of  precious 
metals.  He  founded  at  Paris  the  convent  of 
St.  Aure,  in  which  the  nuns  devoted  them- 
selves to  embroidering  in  gold;  and  round 
about  his  church  of  St.  Paul  des  Champs  in 
a  quarter  long  known  as  the  *'  Culture  Saint 
Eloi  "  were  grouped  the  workshops  of  the 
chasers  and  beaters  of  metal.  Tradition 
attributes  to  him  a  gilded  bronze  arm-chair, 
preserved  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  of 
Paris,  which  served  as  the  throne  of  Dagobert. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  it  cannot  be 
more  than  a  copy  made  of  the  golden  throne 
not  long  after  its  completion,  and  used  by 
that   ostentatious    and    cultivated    monarch 

II 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

when  he  presided  over  the  meetings  of  his 
leudes — as  his  faithful  advisers  were  called. 
Such  as  it  is,  however,  it  remains  an  interest- 
ing example  of  the  barbaric  modification  of 
the  Latin  style,  for  whilst  its  general  form  is 
that  of  an  antique  curule  chair  such  as  was 
used  by  the  chief  magistrate  of  Rome,  its  feet 
ornamented  with  the  claws  and  heads  of  lions, 
have  really  in  their  rugged  strength  some- 
thing novel  about  them. 

A  century  later,  under  Charlemagne,  we 
note  a  final  development  of  luxury  according 
to  the  traditions  of  the  ancient  Romans.  The 
architects  and  decorative  artists  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle — a  town  rich  in  palaces,  churches, 
and  baths,  the  favourite  residence  of  the  all- 
powerful  emperor — all  came  from  Italy. 
Lavish  display  was  the  rule  at  table,  as  was 
the  fashion  in  ancient  times ;  the  Emperor, 
wisely  economical  in  his  personal  expenses, 
was  prodigal  when  it  was  a  question  of 
enhancing  the  glory  of  the  monarchy;  and  on 
one  occasion,  probably  at  Aix,  he  caused 
three  wonderful  tables  to  be  made,  one  of 
gold,  on  which  was  represented  the  earth 
as  then  known,  with  the  fixed  stars  and 
planets ;  whilst  on  the  others,  both  of  solid 
silver,  were  seen  the  plans  of  Rome  and  of 
Constantinople. 

Unfortunately,   no  relics  now  remain  of 

12 


THE  GAULS 

these  pieces  of  furniture  of  fabulous  beauty ; 
they  have  in  the  course  of  centuries  dis- 
appeared as  completely  as  the  humblest  uten- 
sils in  use  amongst  the  peasantry.  Indeed, 
there  are  no  archaeological  survivals  in  France 
of  earlier  date  than  the  thirteenth  century  on 
which  to  found  a  history  of  early  furniture, 
except  the  arm-chair  of  Dagobert  of  doubtful 
authenticity,  and  a  little  stool,  very  crudely 
carved,  preserved  in  the  treasury  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Poitiers,  under  the  name  of  the 
Pulpit  of  St.  Radegund,  which  points  to  the 
sixth  century  as  the  time  of  its  production. 
Scholars  who  have  endeavoured  to  work  out 
some  theory  on  the  subject  of  French  furni- 
ture of  the  first  half  of  the  Middle  Ages  have 
been  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  a  compari- 
son with  the  relics  preserved  in  Italy,  and 
with  those  in  Scandinavia.  Their  learned 
but  debatable  theories  cannot,  however,  be 
discussed  here,  for  to  admit  them  would  be 
beyond  the  scope  of  a  work  that  is  to  deal 
with  facts  only. 

The  most  ancient  existing  piece  of  furni- 
ture in  France  is  of  a  kind  that  only  came  into 
domestic  use  some  eight  centuries  ago  :  a 
wooden  armoire,  or  wardrobe,  that  belonged 
to  the  Church  of  Obazine,  in  the  Department 
of  Corr^ze.  Nothing  could  be  more  simple  or 
massive  than  its  square  structure,  decorated 

13 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

merely  with  a  few  simple  semicircular  arches 
in  the  Roman  style,  upheld  by  slender  little 
pillars,  the  two  leaves  of  the  folding-doors  of 
oak,  each  held  in  place  by  clamps  of  iron, 
known  as  hinges,  and  closed  with  straight 
bolts  running  in  a  groove,  also  of  iron.  This 
humble,  half-destroyed  piece  of  furniture  is  of 
infinite  value,  on  account  of  the  information 
it  gives  on  the  subject  of  the  art  of  the 
carpenter  up  to  the  time  of  its  production. 
To  begin  with,  it  proves  that  style  in  furniture 
followed  exactly  the  gradual  transformation 
of  Latin  architecture ;  moreover,  it  shows 
that  sculpture  was  not  employed  for  the 
decoration  of  domestic  articles.  This  fact 
leads,  further,  to  the  suggestion  that  furniture 
was  painted,  confirmed  by  relics  of  very  little 
later  date  than  the  armoire  of  Obazine,  such 
as  that  of  the  Cathedral  of  Noyon,  the  fold- 
ing-doors of  which  still  retain  a  canvas  glued 
on,  on  which  can  be  made  out  the  painted 
figures  of  angels  and  traces  of  foliage.  It 
was  not  until  the  structure  of  furniture  was 
modified,  the  size  of  the  panels  becoming 
smaller,  whilst  more  iron-work  was  required, 
that  the  painting  intended  to  relieve  the 
monotony  of  the  wide  spaces  of  wood  gave 
place  to  mouldings  masking  the  joints. 

The  two  pieces  of  furniture  just  mentioned, 
to  which  we  have  given  the  name  armoires^  so 
14 


THE  GAULS 

as  to  convey  a  dear  idea  of  their  form  and  use, 
were  known  in  mediaeval  times  as  bahuts  or 
huches,  hence  the  term  huchiers,  long  used 
to  denote  the  corporation  of  carpenters  or 
joiners.  The  bah^tt,  often  referred  to  at 
greater  length  in  old  MSS.  as  the  coffre  de 
bahut,  is  really  nothing  more  than  a  simple 
chest  or  coffer  mounted  upon  feet  or  rests.  It 
was  probably  as  a  rule  the  only  piece  of 
furniture  in  domestic  use  in  France  in  the 
primitive  times,  when  famines,  war,  and  the 
constant  change  of  residence  of  the  Court 
made  it  often  necessary  hastily  to  transport 
all  the  royal  belongings  from  place  to  place 
in  carts.  The  bahut  may  have  served  as  a 
seat  during  the  day,  but  at  night  it  was  turned 
into  a  bed  by  the  addition  of  coverings ; 
at  times  it  held  all  the  worldly  goods  of 
the  family  to  which  it  belonged,  and  could 
be  converted  rapidly  from  an  armoire  into 
a  trunk.  Probably,  also,  the  huche  was 
originally  used  as  a  table,  and  this,  again,  was 
often  converted  into  a  **  dresser,"  a  name  im- 
plying that  it  had  two  ends ;  the  silver  and  gold 
plate  and  drinking-vessels,  always  a  valuable 
part  of  the  household  goods,  being  '*  dress6," 
or  set  up  on  it  between  meals — hence  the  name 
of  *' dresser"  for  the  humble  set  of  shelves  to 
be  found  in  every  French  or  English  kitchen. 
Nothing,   therefore,  could   have  been   more 

15 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

simple  for  many  a  long  day  than  the  living- 
room  even  of  the  king  and  the  greatest 
nobles.  In  a  few  minutes  it  could  be  re- 
arranged in  the  first  chdteau  or  the  first  inn 
reached  by  chance  on  a  journey.  The  bahuts 
were  at  once  unpacked,  out  came  the  familiar 
tapestries  and  painted  canvases  from  home,  to 
be  quickly  nailed  upon  the  walls,  the  coverings 
and  pillows  for  the  beds,  the  plate  to  be  set 
up  on  the  dresser,  the  carpet  to  be  spread 
upon  the  floor,  or  in  default  of  it  the  straw  or 
sweet-smelling  plants  often  used  instead.  It 
was  not  until  the  fifteenth  century  that  the 
custom  of  taking  the  home  environment  un- 
altered everywhere  was  abandoned.  It  is 
easy  to  understand  that  under  such  conditions 
furniture  remained  very  much  the  same — at 
least  domestic  furniture,  for  that  of  churches, 
on  the  other  hand,  developed  in  a  remarkable 
manner.  Under  the  all-powerful  protection 
of  the  clergy,  the  htichiers  were  able  to  relieve 
the  monotony  of  design  to  which  they  were 
restricted  by  their  lay  patrons.  From  the 
thirteenth  century  a  truly  wonderful  imagin- 
ative power  was  displayed,  especially  in  the 
execution  of  choir-stalls,  as  the  rows  of 
seats  on  either  side  of  the  choir  opposite  the 
altar  were  called,  where  during  the  celebration 
of  divine  service  sat  the  priests,  monks,  and 
lay  dignitaries.  The  principle  of  this  arrange- 
i6 


THE  GAULS 

ment  was.  no  doubt,  borrowed  from  the 
churches  of  Italy  and  the  East,  a  fact  that 
suggests  the  possibility  of  arm-chairs  having 
been  at  first  made  of  stone,  though  that 
material,  too  cold  to  the  touch  for  a  Northern 
climate,  was  probably  very  soon  replaced  by 
wood,  of  which  many  chairs  must  have  been 
made  long  before  the  thirteenth-century  ex-- 
amples,  which  are  the  oldest  that  have  been 
preserved.  The  stalls  of  Notre  Dame  de  la 
Roche  date  from  the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  for  the  church  was  consecrated  in 
1232.  They  reflect  in  a  very  marked  degree 
the  best  ecclesiastical  architecture  of  the  same 
period,  in  the  simple  grace  of  their  clustered 
columns  and  airy  arches,  whilst  the  carved 
foliage  decorating  them  recalls  that  in  the  pro- 
jections on  the  under-sides  of  the  seats  of  the 
choir-stalls  half  the  height  of  a  man,  to  which 
the  name  of  misereres  ox  patiences  was  given^ 
because  they  enabled  the  priests  using  them 
to  rest  without  appearing  to  do  so  during  the 
fatiguing  services  at  which  they  were  sup-^ 
posed  to  stand. 

The  Cathedral  of  Poitiers  has  also  retained 
seventy  stalls  of  workmanship  as  fine  as  that 
of  those  in  Notre  Dame  de  la  Roche,  which 
were  executed  by  order  of  Bishop  Jean  de 
Melun,  who  died  in  1257.  The  skilful  but 
modest  artists  who  designed  them  hit  upon 

c  17 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

the  happy  device  of  leaving  a  souvenir  of  them- 
selves by  introducing  amongst  the  carvings 
the  miniature  figure  of  a  seated  huchier  hold- 
ing his  compass  in  his  hand.  Lastly  must  be 
mentioned  the  carved  seats  of  the  church  of 
Saint  Andoche  de  Saulieu,  which  are  a  good 
deal  mutilated,  but  mark  in  a  very  noticeable 
manner  the  transition  from  the  thirteenth  to 
the  fourteenth  century  in  the  great  increase  of 
small  sculptures,  forming  what  may  be  called 
pictures  framed  in  the  architecture.  Some 
of  the  designs  seem  to  have  been  inspired  by 
the  drawings  in  a  curious  contemporary  book, 
the  '* Album"  of  the  architect  Villard  de 
Honnecourt. 

It  is  now  time  to  say  a  few  words  on  the 
sources  from  which  artists  drew  their  ideas, 
very  succinctly  of  course,  for  if  we  dwell  too 
much  on  this  point  that  might  embark  us  on 
a  vast  enterprise,  we  shall  be  in  danger  of  for- 
getting that  the  title  of  our  work  limits  us  to 
the  consideration  of  the  productions  of  the 
huchierSy  or  furniture-makers.  Before  enter- 
ing on  the  epoch  rich  in  examples,  in  which  the 
transition  of  styles  can  be  clearly  distinguished, 
it  seems  to  us  necessary  to  point  out,  as  clearly 
as  the  obscurity  in  which  the  Middle  Ages  are 
involved  will  permit,  how  French  aestheticism 
could  develop  from  its  crude  and  barbarous 
manifestation  in  the  chair  of  Dagobert  to  its 
i8 


THE  GAULS 

delicate  florescence  in  the  wood  carvings  of 
Notre  Dame  de  la  Roche  and  Poitiers. 

From  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Charlemagne, 
or,  to  be  strictly  accurate,  from  that  of  Charles 
the  Bald,  to  Louis  VL,  in  other  words,  from 
the  middle  of  the  ninth  to  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, France  appears  to  the  historian  to 
have  been  wrapped  in  an  almost  impenetrable 
night  of  barbarism ;  the  monarchy  was  de- 
graded, the  feudal  lords  were  mere  brigands, 
the  weak  were  grossly  oppressed,  and  raids 
from  bands  of  Scandinavian  pirates  were  of 
frequent  occurrence.  The  tenth  century  was 
marked  by  a  culmination  of  horrors,  epidemics 
were  succeeded  by  famines,  in  many  places 
human  flesh  was  actually  devoured  by  starv- 
ing wretches,  whilst  added  to  all  the  rest  was 
the  ever-present  dread  of  the  approaching  end 
of  the  world,  predicted  for  the  year  looo. 
There  was  no  brightness  left  on  the  despairing 
earth  !  .  .  .  Yes,  there  was  one  little  ray,  the 
flickering  flame  of  art  lit  by  St.  Eloi,  and  still 
kept  burning  in  the  recesses  of  the  monas- 
teries. There  the  peaceful  monks,  indiflerent 
to  everything  but  the  promotion  of  the  glory 
of  God,  continued  patiently  to  beat  out  precious 
metals,  to  cut  and  set  valuable  gems,  pro- 
ducing works  of  art  in  which  Latin  traditions 
were  gradually  modified  as  a  new  and  strange 
development  began.     Hawkers   and   pedlars 

19 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

brought  images  from  Byzantium,  the  last  out- 
post of  civilisation,  silks  from  Persia  em- 
broidered with  representations  of  unknown 
animals,  cloisonnd  enamels,  the  secret  of  the 
manufacture  of  which  had  been  revealed  to  the 
artisans  of  Constantinople  by  their  fellow 
craftsmen  of  the  remote  confines  of  Asia.  All 
this  acted  as  a  strong  stimulant  on  the  imagi- 
nation of  the  monks — who  copied,  imitated, 
and  combined  designs,  insensibly  Gallicising 
them.  At  Limoges  champlevd  enamels  were 
turned  out  of  an  even  more  sumptuous  appear- 
ance than  the  cloisonnes  they  were  intended 
to  copy,  yet  which  cost  a  hundred  per  cent, 
less.  The  year  looo  passed  harmlessly  away, 
and  the  world  was  transported  with  a  deep 
feeling  of  gratitude  to  the  divine  goodness 
that  had  spared  it.  **  It  seemed,"  said  the 
chronicler  Glaber,  **  as  if  it  had  shaken  itself 
free  of  its  old  age  to  clothe  itself  with 
the  white  ecclesiastical  robe"  (instar  ac  si 
.  .  .  candidam  ecclesiarum  vestem  indueret). 
Presently  the  treasures  of  art  began  to  spread 
beyond  the  monasteries ;  the  humblest  artisan, 
sustained  by  religious  faith,  turned  out  art 
work ;  on  every  side  churches  sprang  up  in 
which  the  Roman  arch  was  abandoned,  up- 
lifting to  Heaven  their  more  or  less  pointed 
ogives,  like  hands  joined  in  devotion,  the 
details  of  their  architecture  enriched  with 
20 


THE  GAULS 

stone  carvings  representing  an  infinite 
variety  of  flora  and  fauna  of  superhuman 
beauty,  whilst  the  light  of  Heaven  poured 
into  them  through  splendid  stained-glass 
windows  like  the  precious  stones  in  some 
dream  of  glory.  In  1025  the  Synod  of 
Arras  alluded  to  the  paintings  in  consecrated 
buildings  as  the  books  of  the  illiterate  ;  and 
the  famous  Abbot  Suger  inscribed  in  Latin 
verse  on  the  doorway  of  St.  Denis  the  ad- 
mirable definition  of  the  union  of  art  with 
faith :  '*  It  is  neither  gold  nor  lavish  outlay 
that  should  be  admired  here  ;  if  the  work  is 
brilliant,  its  glory  should  illuminate  souls  and 
lead  them  by  its  light  to  the  true  light  of 
which  Christ  is  the  only  source.  .  .  .  The 
sluggish  spirit  of  man  is  raised  by  means 
of  material  things  to  the  contemplation  of 
immaterial  truth." 

Thus  the  most  beautiful  of  all  renaissances 
— and  never  was  that  word  more  justly  used 
— succeeded  the  depth  of  human  humiliation 
by  means  of  the  aspiration  which  faith  alone 
was  able  to  arouse.  The  worst  of  all  catas- 
trophies  was  expected,  and,  in  obedience  to  the 
law  of  reaction  that  is  of  such  almost  con- 
stant potency  in  history,  a  splendid  era 
suddenly  succeeded  that  of  dread.  Moreover, 
other  events,  one  after  another,  occurred  to 
add  to  the  artistic,  that  is  to  say,  the  moral, 

21 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

glory  of  France,  although  at  first  they  seemed 
likely  to  be  its  ruin.  We  allude  to  the 
Crusades,  which,  strange  to  say,  historians 
have  always  looked  upon  as  warlike  enter- 
prises only,  that  retarded  the  moral  and 
material  progress  of  the  world.  Is  it  neces- 
sary to  dwell  upon  the  fact  that  the  number 
of  soldiers  who  took  part  in  the  Crusades  was 
very  small  in  comparison  with  the  population 
who  remained  at  home  engaged  in  their  usual 
work  ?  The  troops  were,  of  course,  led  by  the 
so-called  ''  finest  flower  of  chivalry,"  but 
truth  to  tell  that  fine  flower  consisted  of  the 
fierce  and  ignorant  feudal  nobles,  hostile  to 
the  unity  of  the  country,  whose  habit  of 
plundering  on  all  the  main  roads  had  hitherto 
contributed  so  greatly  to  the  general  misery. 
Some  of  them  remained  upon  the  battlefields 
of  the  East ;  those  who  returned  were  com- 
pletely changed  in  character.  Their  habits 
had  been  modified  by  a  different  climate  and 
still  more  by  frequent  and  courteous  inter- 
course with  the  great  Saracen  chieftains,  from 
whom  they  had  obtained  new  ideas  of  what 
true  magnificence  and  refinement  really  were. 
Henceforth  nothing  was  wanting  to  the  full 
development  of  French  genius  ;  side  by  side 
with  religious  art,  under  the  control  of  the 
Church  and  paid  for  out  of  her  inexhaustible 
treasury,  might   now  flourish    that    of    the 

22 


THE  GAULS 

civil  community,  for  artisans  were  now  able 
to  produce  works  as  sumptuous  as  they  liked» 
secure  of  finding  amongst  the  wealthy  no« 
bility  patrons  sufficiently  appreciative  of  their 
beauty  to  be  willing  to  buy  them  at  any 
price. 


23 


THE  SECOND  CHAPTER 

THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 

HE  most  noteworthy  character- 
istic of  the  fourteenth  century- 
was  that  luxury — derived  exclu- 
sively during  the  eleventh  and 
thirteenth  centuries  from  re- 
igious  sources — became  purely  secular.  Our 
remarks  in  the  preceding  chapter  shadowed 
forth  that  logical  evolution.  An  outburst  of 
intense  faith  such  as  that  which  succeeded 
the  terror  of  the  year  looo,  was  not  likely 
to  continue  in  all  the  purity  and  fervour 
which  during  nearly  two  hundred  years 
produced  successively  such  masterpieces  of 
architecture  and  sculpture  that  are,  in  my 
opinion,  the  most  naively  charming  works 
of  art  ever  conceived.  A  bargaining  spirit 
leavened  piety  even  in  the  time  of  Philip 
the  Fair,  who  dared  to  defy  the  Pope, 
encouraged  the  schism  of  Avignon,  and 
ruined  the  order  of  the  Knights  Templars ; 
already  the  Crusaders  of  the  last  expe- 
ditions to  the  Holy  Land  thought  less  of 
the  sufferings  of  Christ  than  of  the  wealth 
and  luxury  of  the  Orient,  whilst  artisans, 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  the  church  of 
24 


THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 

Saulieu,  began  to  allow  secondary  considera- 
tions to  influence  them.  Certain  fragments 
of  ecclesiastical  wood-carvings  of  the  new 
century  really  remind  one  of  the  frames  of 
looking-glasses  ;  in  the  choir-stalls  of  the 
Chaise  Dieu,  which  were,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, carved  by  the  monks  themselves,  medi- 
ocrity is  triumphantly  displayed  in  the  way 
the  oak  is  slashed  about,  and  the  subjects  of 
the  medallions  are  most  irreverently  fantastic, 
a  monkey  or  a  pig  appearing  dressed  as  a 
monk,  or  a  donkey  playing  the  organ.  The 
stalls  of  the  Cathedral  of  Lisieux,  with  their 
confusion  of  decorative  foliage  and  the  number 
of  inappropriate  animals'  heads  carved  upon 
the  misereres,  have  similar  defects,  whilst  the 
elbow-rests  in  the  church  of  St.  Benoit-sur- 
Loire  represent  grotesque  human  figures. 
Examples  of  a  similar  kind  might  be  multi- 
plied. In  all  the  ecclesiastical  cabinet-work 
of  the  fourteenth  century  which  has  come 
down  to  us,  the  skill  of  execution  is  even 
greater  than  the  strength  and  durability;  in 
the  cathedrals  of  Toul,  Dol,  and  Dijon,  for 
instance,  worked  a  number  of  wonderfully 
gifted  carvers  in  wood,  the  names  of  many  of 
whom  have  been  preserved,  notably  Pierre  of 
Neufchiteau,  Jean  of  Lifege,  Guillaume  of 
Marcilly,  Pierre  and  Guillaume  Picheneau, 
Philippot  Viard,  and  certain  Flemings,  who 

D  25 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

are  often  confounded  with  their  French  fellow 
workmen,  such  as  Laurent  of  Ysbres,  sur- 
named  Flamenc,  Pierre  Moselmen,  Hennequin 
of  Antwerp,  &c. 

The  so-called  htichierSy  or  cabinet-makers, 
moreover,  soon  won  the  distinction  of  being 
looked  upon  as  distinct  from  the  mere  ordi- 
nary carpenters.  In  1371  Hugues  Aubriot, 
then  Provost  of  Paris,  defined  their  obliga-- 
tions  and  duties  in  a  sentence  pronounced 
by  him — a  sentence  confirmed  by  an  edict 
of  Parliament  dated  September  4,  1382. 
Louis  XL,  Henri  III., and  Louis  XIV.  each  in 
turn  modified  in  various  edicts  the  statutes 
of  the  powerful  Corporation,  of  which  the 
following  points  may  be  stated  here  to  avoid 
having  to  recur  to  the  subject. 

No  one  could  aspire  to  the  title  of  a 
master  cabinet-maker  who  had  not  served  an 
apprenticeship  of  six  years,  at  the  end  of 
which  he  would  have  to  submit  to  an  ex- 
amination before  a  selected  jury,  and  be  called 
upon  to  execute  in  the  house  of  one  of  them, 
without  any  assistance,  a  masterpiece  on  some 
prescribed  theme  that  should  test  to  the 
uttermost  his  power  of  dealing  successfully 
with  the  difficulties  of  his  profession.  The 
manufacture  of  any  furniture  in  wood  except 
in  the  licensed  ateliers  was  strictly  forbidden, 
as  was  also  the  buying  or  selling  of  anything 
26 


THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 

produced  elsewhere.  To  set  against  these 
restrictions  master  cabinet-makers  were  bound 
to  send  forth  none  but  work  of  the  highest 
quality,  alike  of  material  and  execution  ;  it 
must  all  be  in  bon  bois  loyal  et  marchandy 
under  penalty  of  having  anything  inferior 
publicly  burnt  before  their  doors,  and  having 
to  pay  a  fine  of  ten  crowns.  Long  and 
minutely  detailed  sets  of  rules  were  issued  as 
to  how  different  kinds  of  furniture  were  to  be 
made — for  instance,  the  feet  of  armoires  in 
which  valuable  property  was  to  be  kept  must 
be  of  a  certain  size  and  weight ;  it  was  sug- 
gested that  desks,  benches  with  backs,  and 
couches  or  beds  should  be  ''  delicately  "  made, 
that  the  ornamentation  of  chairs  and  stools 
should  be  appropriate,  and,  lastly,  that  every- 
thing should  be  in  the  French  style. 

The  names  here  given  to  furniture  are 
those  used  in  the  last  edition  of  the  Rules  of 
the  Corporation — that  is  to  say,  the  one  issued 
in  1645.  I^  must  not,  however,  be  supposed 
that  the  houses  of  the  fourteenth  century  were 
suddenly  enriched  with  a  number  of  new  pieces 
of  furniture.  The  bahtd,  or  chest,  the  wooden 
arm-chair  covered  with  painted  canvas,  the 
table,  the  bed,  and  the  bench  were  as  yet  all 
that  the  imagination  of  the  huchiers  had 
evolved,  or,  in  other  words,  all  that  the  ideas 
of  the  time  with  regard  to  luxury  and  comfort 

27 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

exacted  from  them.  Moreover,  it  was  still,  as 
in  earlier  times,  essential  that  furniture  should 
be  easily  portable  on  a  journey — a  fact  that 
regulated  its  shape,  size,  and  weight. 

If  we  were  restricted  in  our  consideration 
of  the  domestic  furniture  of  this  brilliant 
period  to  describing  the  examples  left  to  us, 
our  task  would  be  an  embarrassing  one.  All 
that  remain  are  a  few  chests,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  which  is  in  the  Sculpture  Room 
of  the  Cluny  Museum.  On  the  outside,  be- 
neath the  arcades,  are  carved  the  figures  of 
the  twelve  peers  of  France  in  the  warlike 
costume  of  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
on  the  cover  is  a  series  of  bas-reliefs  repre- 
senting scenes  from  married  life,  jugglers,  and 
grotesque  animals.  Not  a  single  example  of 
a  chair  or  an  arm-chair  can  be  quoted,  and 
this  scarcity  need  not  much  surprise  us  when 
we  remember  that  most  houses  only  contained 
a  single  seat,  that  of  the  master,  whilst  the 
rest  of  the  inmates  were  content  to  sit  on  the 
floor-cushions,  known  as  carreaux,  orhassocks. 
We  are  able  to  gain  some  idea  of  the  furniture 
of  princely  houses  at  the  time  when  the  Mon- 
archy of  France  was  struggling  for  its  very 
existence  in  the  never-ceasing  civil  troubles, 
and  under  stress  of  an  interminable  foreign 
war,  by  reference  to  the  ^'Comptes  de  TArgen- 
terie,"  or  accounts  of  the  finance  minister^ 
28 


THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 

who  was  long  called  the  argentier.  The  num- 
ber and  value  of  the  purchases  there  set  down 
would  indeed  be  surprising,  if  nothing  were 
considered  but  the  demands  upon  the  treasury 
necessitated  by  the  political  events  of  the  day, 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  even  the  most 
cautious  rulers,  such  as  Philip  the  Fair  and 
Charles  V.,  were  as  prodigal,  so  far  as  buying 
luxuries  was  concerned,  as  were  even  the  in- 
sane John  the  Good  and  the  mad  Charles  VI., 
so  that  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  the  conclusion 
that  there  was  a  good  reason  for  this  extra- 
ordinary expenditure  in  the  necessity  for 
maintaining  the  prestige  of  the  Monarchy  in 
the  eyes  of  the  great  vassals  of  the  Crown, 
who  were  almost  as  noble  and  powerful  as 
the  King  himself.  The  accounts  for  13 16 
include  an  order  for  two  arm-chairs  from  the 
**  image  maker "  Martin  Maalot  for  King 
Philip  v.,  surnamed  the  Tall,  and  two  chairs 
for  the  Queen  ;  in  the  following  year,  that  of 
the  Coronation,  the  Court  was  supplied  with 
a  large  number  of  bahuts,  chests,  in  which  to 
pack  the  King's  robes,  his  bed,  the  accessories 
of  his  devotions,  and  the  spices,  then  so  costly, 
for  his  table.  Two  chests  were  reserved  for 
the  Queen's  bed,  and  ten  for  the  rest  of  her 
belongings,  and  in  addition  to  these  are  men- 
tioned two  '*  gilded  caskets  for  her  head," 
which  were  most  likely  boxes  for  her  head- 

29 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

dresses.  The  chests,  also  enumerated,  intended 
to  carry  "  rooms"  require  a  little  special  ex- 
planation. 

We  have  already  referred  above  to  the  fact 
that  the  great  nobles,  and  even  plain  citizens 
of  wealth,  used  to  travel  about  with  all  their 
family  goods  packed  in  huge  chests  which 
at  stopping-places  served  as  furniture.  The 
portion  of  this  luggage  known  as  the  ''  rooms*' 
contained  the  hangings  that  were  fastened  to 
the  walls  of  the  lodgings  with  hooks  and 
cords,  and  the  coverings  for  the  beds.  The 
hangings  generally  consisted  of  tapestry, 
that  varied  according  to  the  season  of  the 
year.  This  is  how  it  comes  about  that  in  docu- 
ments relating  to  the  royal  household  such 
expressions  occur  as  the  Easter  Room,  the 
All  Saints  Room,  the  Christmas  Room,  &c. 
Occasionally,  however,  the  name  applies  rather 
to  the  subject  of  the  tapestry  than  to  the  time 
of  year  ;  for  instance,  we  read  of  the  Room  of 
the  Cross  ;  of  the  Lions  ;  of  the  Conquest 
of  England  ;  of  Penthesilea,  Queen  of  the 
Amazons  ;  of  the  Nine  Prussians,  and  so  on. 
The  bed  was  surmounted  by  a  canopy  with 
three  curtains,  and  above  the  King's  toilet- 
table  was  another  smaller  canopy.  At  the 
end  of  the  century,  *' rooms''  made  of  leather 
prepared  and  painted  by  a  process  invented 
in  Spain  came  into  use,  to  which  were  given 

30 


THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 

the  appropriate  name  of  Cordovan  chambers  ; 
in  1 416  the  Due  de  Berri  had  such  a  room 
made  in  red  leather,  adorned  with  several 
shields  in  gules,  that  is  to  say,  in  red  with 
three  bands  of  silver  surrounding  the  coat 
of  arms  of  Castile ;  and  Queen  Isabella  of 
Bavaria  sent  for  six  leather  carpets  to  match 
the  summer  hangings  of  one  of  her  rooms. 
The  Coronation  Room  of  Queen  Jeanne  of 
Burgundy,  which  has  served  us  as  a  pretext  for 
these  explanations,  was  the  most  sumptuous 
ever  seen,  for  it  was  embroidered  in  gold, 
with  no  less  than  1321  parrots,  and  the  coat 
of  arms  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy. 

Not  only  does  a  perusal  of  the  **  Accounts 
of  the  Minister  of  the  Royal  Finances"  reveal 
how  gorgeous  were  the  travelling  bahuts,  or 
chests.  There  is  the  item  of  two  dining- 
tables,  also  for  Jeanne  of  Burgundy,  one 
with  folding-leaves,  both  with  feet  of  ebony 
and  ivory.  Clemence  of  Hungary,  wife  of 
Louis  X.,  surnamed  ''  le  Hutin,"  or  the 
quarreller,  had  an  arm-chair  made  of  copper, 
such  as  was  then  manufactured  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Dinan  (hence  the  term  dinan- 
derie,  still  applied  to  copper-work),  and  had  it 
covered  with  velvet  by  an  artisan  of  the  name 
of  Gilbert  leChasublier,  or  the  chasuble-maker. 
When,  as  was  customary,  a  seat  was  to  be 
covered  with   painted   canvas,    it  was  usual^. 

3t 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

as  well  as  natural,  to  apply,  not  to  a  maker 
of  chasubles,  but  to  an  illuminator.  Thus  we 
find  the  Court  Painter  Girard  of  Orleans 
commissioned  in  1352  to  paint  and  carve  the 
thrones  to  be  used  on  the  occasion  of  the 
marriage  of  Blanche  of  Bourbon  to  the  King 
of  Castile.  He  it  was,  too,  who  in  1364 
made  those  for  the  Coronation  of  Charles  V., 
and  he  worked  for  John  the  Good  even  during 
the  latter's  captivity  in  England.  For  the 
house  of  the  King  richly  carved  benches  were 
also  made — the  larger  ones  known  as  bancs  de 
taille,  or  waist-high  benches  ;  the  others  as 
forms.  The  accounts  also  include  dressers, 
dais,  footstools  to  be  placed  in  front  of  the 
benches,  carved  animals  as  ornaments  for  the 
feet  of  furniture,  and  buffets  or  sideboards, 
which  were  apparently  merely  low  dressers. 

In  the  celebrated  library  formed  by 
Charles  V.  in  a  tower  of  the  Louvre  the 
cabinet-makers  Jacques  de  Parvis  and  Jean 
Grobois  executed  some  important  panelling 
work,  and  did  a  good  deal  of  restoring  of  old 
furniture.  The  walls  were  wainscoted  with 
oak  from  Holland  ;  the  ceiling  was  of  carved 
cypress-wood  ;  the  windows  were  provided 
with  iron  gratings  to  prevent  birds  from 
flying  in,  glass  being  as  yet  little  used ;  and 
cabinets  divided  into  three  stories  were  con- 
structed, in  which,  as  was  then  the  custom, 
32 


THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 

MSS.  were  kept  spread  out  flat,  one  division 
being  reserved  to  specimens  of  jewellery. 

All  this  gives  a  singular  impression  of 
combined  luxury  and  simplicity.  We  find 
Charles  VI.  appearing  in  a  robe  on  which 
were  embroidered  i400Jewelled  swallows,  each 
holding  a  golden  dish  in  its  mouth.  At  the 
same  time,  however,  the  King  contented  him- 
self with  sitting  on  a  wooden  bench,  or  a  chair, 
covered  with  painted  canvas  ;  whilst  Isabella 
of  Bavaria  decked  herself  with  a  fabulous 
quantity  of  diamonds  and  otherprecious  stones, 
yet  was  ignorant,  as  were  all  her  contem- 
poraries, of  such  a  thing  as  a  nightdress,  and 
she  slept  in  a  room  the  w^indows  of  which 
consisted  of  nothing  but  thin  pieces  of  bone 
or  perhaps  of  leaves  of  parchment.  In  fact, 
the  luxury  which  prevailed  to  so  great  an 
extent  in  society  in  the  fourteenth  century 
represents  merely  the  desire  to  cut  a  dash  in 
the  eyes  of  others — not  a  real  love  of  comfort. 
Barbarism  was  still  really  triumphant  over 
Latin  culture,  and  many  more  years  were 
needed  before  by  slow  degrees  the  desire 
became  general  for  the  refined  surroundings 
which  are  one  of  the  most  noteworthy  features 
of  civilisation — a  word  that  must  not,  by  the 
way,  be  confounded  with  the  idea  of  moral 
progress. 


33 


THE  THIRD  CHAPTER 

THE   FIFTEENTH   CENTURY 

N  a  technical  history  such  as  that 
we  are  now  writing  the  term 
''fifteenth  century"  must  be  taken 
to  refer,  not  to  a  definitely  re- 
stricted period,  but  to  the  school 
of  art  which  in  it  carried  on  the  Gothic  tradi- 
tions of  that  which  preceded  it.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  the  influence  of  the  celebrated  Italian 
Renaissance  of  the  sixteenth  century  made 
itself  felt  in  the  midst  of  the  prolific  Gothic 
age  long  before  the  year  1500.  To  make  our 
work  clear,  therefore,  it  seems  to  us  desirable, 
in  spite  of  rigid  dates,  to  consider  in  this 
chapter  what  may  be  called  the  bastard  furni- 
ture which  came  into  use  immediately  after 
the  war  with  Italy  began. 

Not  without  reason  did  we  quote  the 
example  of  Charles  VI.  and  Isabella  of 
Bavaria  as  a  striking  instance  of  the  state 
of  mind  to  which  a  frenzied  love  of  wealth 
had  brought  a  people  who  were  still  in  other 
respects  mediaeval  barbarians.  Their  reign 
indeed  was  divided  between  the  two  cen- 
turies, and  serves  as  a  permanent  symbol  of 
a   period  of  art  development  that  has  been 

34 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY 

arbitrarily  cut  in  half  by  historical  classifica- 
tions. 

It  is  in  the  wood-carvings  of  the  churches, 
in  which  the  imagination  and  skill  of  the 
artists  were  alike  unfettered,  that  can  best  be 
studied  the  easy  transition  from  the  grand 
and  simple  Gothic  of  the  thirteenth  century 
to  the  aspiring,  attenuated,  and  complicated 
ornamentation  culminating  in  the  confusion 
of  decoration  that  won  for  the  final  develop- 
ment, in  the  very  moment  of  its  decline,  the 
name  of  flamboyant.  Truth  to  tell,  the  passage 
from  one  to  the  other  was  so  imperceptible 
that  the  most  expert  critics  are  sometimes  at 
a  loss  to  determine  the  age  of  a  series  of  choir- 
stalls  within  ten  years  or  so.  As  a  general 
rule  the  main  features  of  architecture  betray 
their  date  far  more  readily  than  do  details  of 
decoration.  The  latter  lose  something  of  their 
first  grace  as  time  goes  on  ;  the  noble-looking 
columns,  rising  up  in  their  pure,  unadulterated 
beauty,  gradually  become  overburdened  with 
ornamentation,  often  of  fine  execution  no 
doubt,  but  wearisome  to  the  eye  by  reason  of 
its  redundancy.  Profane  subjects  are  of 
frequent  occurrence  on  the  misereres  and 
elbow-rests  of  the  choir-stalls,  whilst  the 
simple  wooden  canopy  above  the  seat,  origin- 
ally a  mere  rounded  extension  of  the  back,  is 
replaced  by  an  elaborate  baldachino  at  right 

35 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

angles  so  as  to  provide  the  insatiable  wood- 
carver  with  yet  another  string-course  on  which 
to  exercise  his  skill. 

The  two  magnificent,  painted  and  gilded, 
reredoses  from  the  Carthusian  monastery  of 
Dijon,  now  in  the  Museum  of  that  town, 
which  were  saved  from  destruction  during 
the  Revolution,  are  admirable  examples  of 
the  transition  period.  The  monastery  to 
which  they  belonged  was  founded  in  1380  by 
Philip  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  whose 
Court  exceeded  in  luxury  even  that  of  Charles 
the  Mad.  The  reredoses  were  designed  by 
Jacques  de  Baerze,  a  Flemish  subject  of  the 
Duke,  and  the  beautiful  ogives  are  prophetic 
of  the  attenuation  of  architectural  motives  in 
which  later  huchiers  were  all  too  ready  ta 
indulge. 

To  gain  a  really  true  idea  of  the  trans- 
formation that  was  effected  in  Gothic  architec- 
ture by  the  influence  of  Northern  mannerism, 
it  is  also  essential  to  study  the  marvellous 
carvings  of  Amiens.  Every  line  of  the 
architecture  is  encumbered  with  quantities  of 
figures,  campaniles,  and  foliage.  The  church 
of  Brou  is  even  more  belated,  for  it  relegates 
the  close  of  the  Gothic  period  to  1522,  whilst 
that  of  Amiens  would  make  the  date  1508.  It 
is,  if  possible,  even  more  overladen  with  figures 
of  saints,  apostles,  and  patriarchs,  executed  by 

36 


CHEST.     XV  Century.    Cluny  Museum 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY 

the  two  celebrated  huchiers  Terrasson  and 
Am6  le  Picard,  after  the  designs  of  Jean 
Perrdal.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  only  fair  ta 
add  that  the  famous  wood-carvings  dating 
from  151 2  in  the  church  of  St.  Pol  de  L^on, 
situated  in  an  intensely  conservative  province,, 
hostile  to  innovation,  retain  the  dignified 
character  of  earlier  work.  This  late  example 
of  Gothic  art  confirms  what  we  have  just 
said  on  the  necessity  of  caution  in  assigning 
without  definite  evidence  a  date  to  the  many 
works  belonging  to  the  transition  period,  such 
as  those  preserved  in  the  Church  of  the 
Madeleine  at  Chateaudun,  the  collegiate 
church  of  Tro6  (Loir  et  Cher),  the  Abbey  of 
Blanche  de  Mortain,  the  church  of  Andelys, 
that  of  Gassicourt,  near  Mantes,  the  Cathe- 
dral of  Rodez,  that  of  St.  Claude,  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  at  Vendome,  that  ot 
Charlieu  (Loire),  of  Notre  Dame,  and  of  the 
Carthusian  Monastery  of  Villefranche,  with 
many  others  which  it  is  unnecessary  to  name. 
Examples  of  the  domestic  furniture  of  this 
period  are  pretty  numerous,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  beds,  which  seem  all  to  have  dis- 
appeared. The  design  and  ornament  of  all 
these  articles  resemble  that  of  the  wood-work 
in  ecclesiastical  buildings,  and  they  are  faithful 
reflections  of  the  architecture  of  the  period 
at  which  they  were  made  ;  whilst  they  in  their 

37 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

turn  supplied  motives  to  the  workers  in  ivory 
who  adorned  the  lids  of  coffers,  &c.,  as  well 
.as  to  the  painters  of  the  illuminations  of 
missals  and  manuscripts.  It  could,  indeed, 
scarcely  be  otherwise,  for  at  that  time  artists 
of  every  kind  were  in  the  habit  of  congre- 
gating about  the  great  centres  of  luxury  and 
patronage,  the  habitual  residences  of  the  great 
nobles,  and  above  all  at  the  Courts  of  the  King 
at  Paris  and  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  at 
Dijon. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  latter 
provincial  dukedom  as  an  inexhaustible 
storehouse  of  wealth  for  nearly  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years.  In  the  Museum  of  Dijon, 
side  by  side  with  the  reredoses  of  Jacques  de 
Baerze,  are  to  be  seen  some  relics  of  furniture 
which  bear  witness  to  the  splendour  of  the 
Court,  including  the  central  panel  of  what 
was  once  the  back  of  the  chair  of  John  the 
Fearless,  than  which  it  would  be  impossible 
to  imagine  anything  more  rich  and  delicate. 
The  upper  portion  encloses  within  an  ogive 
festooned  with  foliage  the  coat  of  arms  of  the 
Duke,  upheld  by  two  angels;  the  lower  portion, 
of  rectangular  shape,  contains  the  coats  of 
arms  of  eight  feudatory  provinces,  set  in  a 
kind  of  trellis  of  delicate  workmanship, 
enriched  with  foliage  and  supplemented  by 
four    angels    playing    various     instruments 

38 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY 

of  music.  In  this  same  Museum  are  to  be 
seen  three  ivory  caskets,  which,  according^ 
to  tradition,  belonged  to  the  toilette  service 
of  the  Duchesses  of  Burgundy ;  two  of  them 
are  adorned  with  arabesques  and  painted  birds, 
picked  out  with  gold ;  the  third  is  encircled 
by  a  series  of  scenes  from  the  New  Testament, 
embossed  in  polychrome.  Entries  in  the 
archives  supplement  these  costly  relics,  which 
are  a  perfect  revelation  to  the  spectator.  Fresh 
acquisitions  were  constantly  made :  dressers 
and  benches  for  Antony  of  Burgundy,  known 
as  le  Grand  Batard ;  a  wooden  chest  with 
iron  clamps  for  the  reception  of  gifts  of 
visitors  to  meet  the  expenses  of  an  expedition 
against  the  infidels  of  Constantinople ;  end- 
less descriptions  of  jewels,  paintings,  manu- 
scripts, and  costly  garments  are,  as  it  were, 
sprung  upon  the  student  of  these  wonderful 
archives. 

John  Duke  of  Berri  at  his  Court  at 
Bourges  vied  in  splendour  with  his  powerful 
brother,  Philip  the  Bold ;  the  Dukes  of  Orleans, 
waiting  their  turn  to  reign,  constantly  en- 
riched their  chdteau  of  Blois ;  the  Kings  of 
France  dissipated  their  resources  betimes,  for 
the  treasury  was  often  at  a  terribly  low  ebb 
in  the  century  which  witnessed  the  replacing 
of  Charles  the  Mad  by  Charles  VII.,  most 
effeminate  and  most  lax  in  principle  of  any 

39 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

of  the  French  princes;  the  Cabochiens,  named 
after  their  leader,  the  butcher,  Caboche,  were 
masters  of  Paris  whilst  the  English  were 
masters  of  France.  Lastly,  and  above  all,  all 
classes  of  society,  were  permeated  by  deep  and 
widespread  demoralisation — a  demoralisation 
that  did  not  check  luxury,  but  imbued  the 
people  with  a  distaste  for  work  and  for  thrift, 
which  are  the  very  foundations  of  prosperity. 
The  great  nobles  went  forth,  to  quote  the  words 
of  a  contemporary  historian.  Bishop  Jacques 
of  Vitry,  like  birds  of  prey  to  plunder  the 
churches  and  to  assassinate  the  plebeians  who 
were  guilty  of  letting  their  wealth  become 
known.  This  contempt  of  right  in  high 
places  lent  sanction  to  all  manner  of  popular 
excesses,  and  many  must  have  been  reminded 
of  the  Republic  of  Florence,  for  the  statutes 
of  the  new  State,  drawn  up  by  the  victorious 
burghers,  declared  that  it  owed  its  greatness 
^ro  homicidio,  pro  fur  to,  pro  incest o,  and  also 
of  their  kindred  spirits  of  England,  Jack  Straw 
and  John  Ball,  who  said  to  the  mob,  ''  Good 
people,  things  will  never  go  well  in  England 
so  long  as  goods  be  not  in  common,  and  as 
long  as  there  be  villeins  and  gentlemen." 

Meanwhile  the  people  imitated  the  luxury 
of  their  oppressors  with  an  eager  zeal — which 
led  to  an  attempt,  unsuccessful  of  course,  to 
check  that  zeal  by  sumptuary  laws.  Even 
40 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY 

during  those  terrible  years  of  excessive  mor- 
tality when,  as  a  contemporary  wrote  in  his 
journal,  wolves  scoured  the  country  and  even 
ventured  at  night  into  the  streets  of  Paris  to 
carry  off  dead  bodies,  the  common  people 
continued  to  indulge  in  wearing  costly  and 
luxurious  clothes — from  which  it  is  natural  to 
conclude  that  they  showed  no  more  discretion 
in  the  embellishment  of  their  houses.  Un- 
fortunately, actual  evidence  of  this  is  wanting; 
or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  it  is  all  but  im- 
possible to  prove  that  this  or  that  piece  of 
furniture  which  has  been  preserved  in  some 
museum  or  private  collection  belonged  origin- 
ally to  the  household  of  a  burgher,  a  noble, 
or  an  ecclesiastic.  This  doubt  assails  us,  for 
instance,  in  examining  the  charming  table  in 
the  Bardac  collection,  consisting  of  simple 
planks  set  on  trestles,  the  only  ornament  a  little 
purling,  a  perfect  marvel  of  combined  lightness 
and  strength.  Other  examples  that  have  come 
down  to  us  are  the  set  of  panels  known  under 
the  name  of  the  Lit  de  Justice  of  the  Chateau 
of  Argentelles,  which  now  belong  to  M. 
Edmond  Foule,  and  appear  to  have  originally 
formed  part  of  an  alcove  of  that  Norman 
castle.  If  this  be  a  true  attribution — and  the 
most  expert  judges  think  that  it  is — this  Lit 
de  Justice  proves  how  very  ornate  the  interiors 
of  private  houses  were.     The  so-called  bed 

F  41 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

consists  of  a  square  canopy,  on  three  sides  of 
which  is  a  double  frieze  of  carvings  with  floral 
motives  and  arcades  in  the  flamboyant  style, 
further  enriched  with  campaniles,  pendentives, 
and  figures  of  children  balancing  themselves 
in  the  air,  whilst  below  an  angel  with  folded 
wings  holds  a  shield  bearing  a  coat  of  arms. 
The  panels  surmounted  by  the  dais  are  adorned 
with  fleurs-de-lys  and  Gothic  ornaments,  and 
the  whole  structure  rises  from  two  steps.  All 
that  is  needed  to  form  just  such  a  corner  of 
a  room  as  is  represented  in  the  miniatures  of 
many  old  manuscripts  is  the  actual  bed  with 
its  velvet  or  tapestry  curtains. 

The  arm-chairs,  or  thrones,  that  we  are  able 
to  cite  as  examples  of  skilful  carpentry  are  all 
of  a  princely  character,  such  as  those  in  the 
Cluny  Museum  bearing  the  arms  of  France, 
or  the  combined  arms  of  France  and  Brittany. 
The  most  remarkable  dates  from  quite  the  end 
of  the  Gothic  period  :  the  back  is  finished  off 
at  the  top  by  a  frieze  of  open-worked  vine 
foliage,  and  eagles  with  drooping  wings,  in  the 
centre,  beneath  an  arch,  stand  two  angels  in 
long  robes  holding  the  royal  shield  sur- 
mounted by  what  is  known  as  a  couromie 
ouverte,  or  a  crown  consisting  of  a  simple 
fillet.  A  large  number  of  authentic  and  un- 
injured coffers  have  come  down  to  us.  In 
quite  humble  collections  specimens  of  a  cha- 
42 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY 

racter  so  simple  were  to  be  found  as  to  lend 
probability  to  the  theory  of  their  plebeian 
origin.  They  are  nearly  all  put  together  in 
much  the  same  way.  The  front  is  divided 
into  a  series  of  little  arcades,  subdivided  in 
their  turn  by  curves  and  semi-curves  imitated 
from  monumental  architecture  ;  the  spaces 
between  are  often  filled  in  with  carved  rose- 
tracery  or  other  floral  designs,  occasionally 
with  the  figures  of  children.  A  fine  example 
is  the  chest  in  the  Cluny  Museum  from  the 
Abbey  of  Val  Saint  Benoit  (Sa6ne  et  Loire) ; 
and  another  typical  specimen  is  one  in  the 
Tours  Museum,  in  which  the  principal  panel 
is  divided  into  rectangular  spaces  ornamented 
with  a  lozenge  moulding,  each  lozenge  con- 
taining rose-tracery — a  motive  often  also  met 
with  on  doors.  Lastly,  though  more  rarely 
than  the  ornaments  just  described,  a  series 
of  Gothic  arcades  is  sometimes  met  with, 
in  each  of  which  is  introduced  a  kneeling 
figure.  It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  the 
smaller  side-panels  of  chests  are  generally 
decorated  with  the  simple  but  effective  linen- 
fold  design,  that  is  not  unlike  an  open  book, 
or,  which  is  perhaps  a  better  comparison,  a 
parchment  rolled  up  at  each  end. 

We  will  not  pause  to  describe  the  armoires, 
or  wardrobes,  which  are,  as  a  general  rule, 
nothing  more  than  a  chest  set  upon  a  bench, 

43 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

or  two  chests  one  on  top  of  the  other.  From 
them  we  may,  however,  deduce  the  fact  that 
the  more  valuable  ones  were  decorated  in  the 
style  alluded  to  above,  whilst  those  intended 
for  humbler  purposes  had  no  other  embellish- 
ment than  the  iron  bands  or  hinges,  the  chief 
purpose  of  which  was  to  add  to  the  strength 
of  the  chests.  As  very  perfect  examples  of 
the  latter  we  may  quote  those  lining  the  walls 
of  the  Treasury  of  St.  Germain  I'Auxerrois 
at  Paris. 

The  dresser  was  the  most  distinctive 
article  of  furniture  in  the  houses  of  the 
nobility  in  the  fifteenth  century.  *'  Mme.  de 
Charolais,"  says  a  writer  of  the  tinie,  *'only 
had  four  shelves  to  her  dresser,  whilst  Mme. 

la    Duchesse,   her  daughter,    had    five 

I  have  often  heard  it  said,"  he  adds,  *'that 
no  princess,  except  the  Queen  of  France, 
should  have  five  shelves.  The  dressers  of 
countesses  should  have  three  shelves,  on 
which  should  be  ranged  dishes,  pots,  flagons, 
and  large  drinking -cups,  whilst  on  the 
broadest  part  of  the  dresser  there  should 
be  two  large  wax  candles,  to  be  lit  when  any 
one  is  in  the  room."  For  all  that,  however, 
the  dresser  is  really  only  a  gradual  develop- 
ment of  the  primitive  trestle  on  which  chests 
used  to  be  put  down.  The  finest  and  most 
complete  specimen  we  know  of  is  that  in  the 
44 


Plate  II 


CUrBOARD.     End  of  XV  Century.     Louvre  Museum 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY 

Basilewski  Collection,  bought  by  the  Emperor 
of  Russia,  and  taken  from  Paris  to  St.  Peters- 
burg. It  is  surmounted  by  a  rounded  dais, 
which  recalls  that  of  the  choir-stalls  of  a 
church.  The  carving,  which  is  extremely 
delicate,  includes  representations  of  the 
Annunciation  and  Nativity,  figures  of 
saints  and  angels,  and  one  of  St.  John 
the  Evangelist,  the  last  occupying  a  central 
position  between  the  folding-doors  of  the 
armoire. 

We  could  multiply  and  vary  to  any  extent 
descriptions  of  such  Gothic  furniture,  but  to 
do  so  might  lead  the  reader  to  lose  sight  of 
those  general  characteristics  of  mediaeval 
carpentry,  the  thorough  recognition  of  which, 
in  our  opinion,  is  essential  to  forming  a  clear 
judgment  on  what  at  first  sight  appears  to 
be  the  confused  and  complicated  work  of  the 
artisans  of  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and 
fifteenth  centuries. 

Before  passing,  however,  to  the  study  of 
the  Renaissance,  we  must  note  certain  historic 
data  which  will  enable  us  to  grasp  the  intel- 
lectual transition  from  one  period  to  another. 
In  the  sketch  we  have  given  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  we  have  had  to  bear  in  mind  the  extra- 
ordinary combination  it  reflects  of  extreme 
misery  and  inordinate  luxury,  but  for  all  that 
we  must  not  pretend  to  ignore  the  undoubted 

45 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

progress  made  in  intellectual  culture,  slow  but 
sure,  which  places  a  gulf  between  the  time  of 
Charles  VI.  and  Louis  XII.  Side  by  side  with 
the  beautiful  and  voluptuous  Agnes  Sorel  rose 
up  the  heroic  and  simple-hearted  Joan  of  Arc, 
who  awakened  amongst  the  masses  of  the 
people  the  ennobling  idea  of  patriotism. 
After  Charles  VII.,  a  mere  shadow  of  a  king, 
came  Louis  XI.,  a  prince  of  iron  hand,  but 
acute  intelligence,  who  subdued  nobles,  con- 
quered provinces,  and  even  introduced  the 
principles  of  economy  into  the  financial  policy 
of  the  State. 

The  moral  effect  of  this  policy  was  incon- 
testable, but  at  the  same  time  it  had  a  less 
immediate  result  upon  the  manners  of  the 
time  than  historians  lead  us  to  suppose.  In 
this  connection,  also,  the  special  annals  of 
luxury  to  which  we  can  only  now  devote  a 
single  chapter  bring  things  out  in  their  true 
proportions.  Joan  of  Arc,  simple  peasant 
though  she  was,  was  so  far  imbued  with  the 
ideas  of  her  time  that  she  went  to  battle 
wearing  over  her  armour  a  robe  woven  of 
gold  thread.  She  was  decked  out  in  this 
style  when  she  was  taken  prisoner,  as  is 
proved  by  the  authentic  records  of  her  trial, 
and  Louis  XL,  the  bourgeois  monarch  of 
popular  tradition — who  is  always,  by  the  way, 
/epresented  as  an  old  man,  who  delighted  in 

46 


Plate  III 


STALL.     End   of  XV   Century.     Paris 
Exhibition,  1900 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY 

wearing  a  cheap  fustian  cassock,  a  rosary 
round  his  neck,  and  on  his  head  a  cap  with 
leaden  images  of  the  saints  round  the  brim — 
also  had  his  times  of  indulgence  in  the  extrava- 
gant luxuryof  a  great  noble.  It  would  indeed  be 
a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  he  limited  the 
money  he  spent  on  furniture  to  having  cag'es 
made  in  which  to  shut  up  his  enemies.  It  so 
happens  that  entries  in  the  royal  accounts 
reveal  that  he  had  a  costly  aviary  set  up  in 
his  room  at  Plessis  les  Tours,  in  which  to  keep 
the  rare  little  birds  that  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  buying  by  the  dozen  at  a  time,  and  for 
whose  use  he  had  gilded  perches  made ; 
moreover,  he  spent  a  good  deal  on  violet- 
powder  to  scent  his  clothes  and  rose-water  to 
wash  in,  put  round  the  neck  of  his  greyhound 
that  he  called  his  cher  ami  a  golden  collar 
set  with  three  big  rubies  and  twenty  pearls, 
bought  many  valuable  clocks,  games  of  bil- 
liards, and  numerous  pieces  of  furniture  from 
the  carpenter  Jacques  Cadot,  also  pleasure- 
galleys  for  boating  on  the  Loire  and  the  Seine, 
with  regular  houses  on  board  with  glass 
windows,  &c.  Do  not  all  these  domestic 
details,  too  much  despised  by  historians,  give 
an  altogether  new  idea  of  the  great  King  ? 
Was  this  Louis  XI.  in  his  perfumed  robes, 
walking  about  with  a  greyhound  decked  exit 
like  a  grand  lady,  so  very  unlike  in  his  ways 

47 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

and  ideas  to  the  lavishly  extravagant  vassals 
whose  ruin  he  was  so  anxious  to  bring  about  ? 
This  is  the  point  at  which  we  have  been 
arriving.  Nothing  throughout  the  whole 
course  of  the  fifteenth  century,  not  even  the 
political  wisdom  of  the  conqueror  of  Charles 
the  Rash,  succeeded  in  even  temporarily 
checking  the  inordinate  love  of  luxury  that 
prevailed  in  France.  Charles  VIII.  must 
therefore  not  be  too  severely  judged  for  a 
pomp  that  he  did  not  inaugurate,  but  merely 
kept  up  according  to  the  usual  custom  of 
princes,  and  with  the  approbation  of  a  section 
at  least  of  his  subjects.  No  doubt  the  first 
expedition  he  led  to  Italy  that  had  such  dis- 
astrous results,  was  an  act  of  policy  quite 
unworthy  of  the  lessons  bequeathed  to  him 
by  his  father.  For  all  that,  however,  it  is 
very  certain  that  had  Louis  XL  himself  been 
drawn  into  such  a  war  in  the  land  of  art,  he 
would,  like  his  son,  have  been  unable  to  resist 
the  temptation  of  bringing  back  in  his  train, 
together  with  a  booty  of  masterpieces,  some 
of  those  artists  who  were  true  experts  in 
magnificence,  with  the  result  that  the  Re- 
naissance would  have  been  dated  from  his 
reign. 


48 


THE  FOURTH  CHAPTER 

THE  RENAISSANCE 


T  is  very  much  the  fashion 
nowadays  to  deplore  the  fact 
that  Charles  VIII.,  previously 
imbued  with  the  Romanesque 
spirit,  should  have  been  so 
excited  by  the  perusal  of  the  **  Rosier  des 
Guerres  "  as  to  provoke  in  1494  the  conflict 
between  the  French  and  the  Italians  which 
could  but  be  the  death-blow  to  the  highest 
expression  of  French  genius :  Gothic  art. 
This  judgment,  however,  really  proves  a  very 
superficial  knowledge  of  facts.  The  Gothic 
art  that  gave  birth  to  such  splendid  buildings 
as  the  cathedrals  of  Chartres,  Notre  Dame  of 
Paris,  Rheims,  and  Amiens  was  the  result  of 
a  fervent  faith  which  could  not  long  be  main- 
tained at  its  original  intensity,  and  had  indeed 
already  begun  to  decline  at  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  growing  intricacy  of 
the  works  we  have  been  studying  in  chrono- 
logical order,  the  decline  in  good  taste  every- 
where noticeable,  prove  all  too  surely  that  at 
the  date  to  which  we  have  now  come  Gothic  art 
was  dying  of  natural  causes  ;  dying  because 
it  no  longer  had  in  itself  the  vital  sap  which 

G  49 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

was  the  essential  principle  of  its  life,  so  that 
it  resembled  a  fruit-tree  that  is  no  longer 
pruned,  the  supports  of  which  have  given  way, 
and  which  must  eventually  succumb  beneath 
the  weight  of  redundant  foliage  and  sterile 
blossom.  Weary  of  exercising  their  skill  on 
lines  of  architecture  that  never  varied,  artists 
and  artisans  were  ready  to  accept  any  innova« 
tion,  no  matter  what  its  source.  At  the  Court 
of  Burgundy,  for  instance,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  Flemings  who  brought  with  them  nothing 
novel  but  certain  mannerisms  of  their  own, 
readily  found  pupils  ;  whilst  in  the  South, 
Italian  ideas  early  filtered  across  the  boundary, 
and  King  Rene  sent  from  beyond  the  Alps 
for  such  artists  as  Laurana  and  Pietro  da 
Milano  to  enrich  his  capital  of  Aix. 

To  resume :  The  Renaissance  originated 
in  France  at  the  favourable  moment  for  the 
rapid  adoption  of  decorative  motives  founded 
on  antique  Latin  models,  that  had  already  been 
freely  drawn  upon  for  some  hundred  years  by 
Italian  artists :  decorative  motives  only,  be 
it  observed,  for  no  new  form  of  domestic 
furniture  was  introduced  until  a  long  time 
afterwards,  everything  of  that  kind  still  re- 
maining what  it  was  when  sudden  and  frequent 
removals  were  the  rule.  Moreover,  French 
cabinet-makers  never  gave  up  the  carving  in 
relief  of  which  they  were  such  thorough 
SO 


Plate  IV 


RENAISSANCE  ARMCHAIR.     Louvre  Museum 


THE  RENAISSANCE 

masters,  for  the  less  familiar  processes  of 
painting  on  panels,  nor  did  they  adopt  the 
use  of  coloured  marqueterie,  or  of  paste 
mouldings,  in  the  style  to  which  the  names  of 
tarsia,  intarsia  pittoric,  and  certosina  were 
given  in  Italy. 

Sudden  as  was  the  invasion  of  France  by 
Italian  design,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the 
change  was  really  effected  all  at  once.  As 
already  stated,  some  works  have  been  pre- 
served in  the  purest  Gothic  style,  that  date 
from  the  first  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
most  of  them  in  churches,  for  which  the 
supple  Florentine  line  did  not  appear  suffi- 
ciently dignified  to  the  artists  who  designed 
them  and  who  were  attached  to  old  traditions. 
Leaving  them  aside,  we  will  first  study  the 
examples  in  which  the  old  and  new  styles 
jostle  each  other,  and  then  those  in  which  the 
pointed  arch  has  completely  disappeared, 
giving  place  to  a  purely  Italian  motive. 

What  may  be  called  a  classic  type  of 
the  marriage  of  the  two  styles — which  we 
must  quote  as  a  masterpiece  of  wood  carving, 
though  it  leads  us  somewhat  away  from 
our  subject — is  the  door  of  the  church  of 
Saint  Sauveur  at  Aix  in  Provence,  which 
dates  from  1504,  and  on  which,  though  the 
whole  is  evidently  the  work  of  one  hand, 
niches   with  pointed  arches  in  which  stand 

51 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

the  figures  of  prophets  are  separated  by 
pilasters  decorated  with  arabesques  and  the 
animals  that  symbolise  the  Evangelists.  The 
two  styles  are  naively  used  side  by  side,  the 
artist  having  made  no  attempt  to  unite  them 
by  any  transitional  features,  and  the  effect  of 
the  whole  is  charming.  The  same  combina- 
tion is  met  with  in  a  pulpit  of  the  church  of 
Beaulieu  les  Loches,  in  which  panels  in  the 
flamboyant  Gothic  and  Italian  styles  alter- 
nate with  each  other.  This  little  masterpiece 
was  no  doubt  produced  in  the  brilliant  work- 
shops on  the  Loire,  whose  talented  owners 
were  the  first  to  learn  the  technical  secrets  of 
the  craftsmen  brought  back  with  him  from 
Italy  by  the  victor  of  Fornova  to  his  favourite 
Chateau  of  Amboise,  and  to  win  fresh  inspira- 
tion from  the  works  of  art  that  formed  part  of 
the  spoil  he  amassed  in  it.  It  is  probable 
that  the  new  arrivals  themselves  at  first 
worked  in  the  princely  mansions  of  France, 
as  was  the  custom  in  their  own  country,  side 
by  side  with  the  carpenters  of  Amboise  and 
Tours,  who  in  1493  received  from  the  King  a 
commission  for  a  large  number  of  benches, 
trestle-tables,  dressers,  wooden  bedsteads  and 
wooden  chairs,  to  be  covered  with  red  leather. 
In  any  case  the  lessons  the  foreigners  taught 
were  very  quickly  learnt,  for  not  a  single 
Italian  name  occurs  amongst  those  of  the 
52 


THE  RENAISSANCE 

twenty-one  cabinet-makers  who  a  few  years 
later  executed  by  order  of  the  noble  Arch- 
bishop of  Rouen,  George  of  Amboise,  and  his 
nephew,  the  wood-work  of  the  famous  Chateau 
of  Gaillon.  Not  a  single  piece  of  furniture 
that  belonged  to  that  residence  has  been 
preserved  but  a  few  wainscot  panels  now  at 
Cluny  and  in  the  Abbey  of  St.  Denis,  the 
beauty  of  which  would  have  been  quite  enough 
to  prove  what  the  grandeur  of  the  whole  work 
must  have  been,  even  if  the  accounts  of  the 
payments  made  for  it  were  not  accessible. 
Although  of  exclusively  French  manufacture, 
they  are  good  examples  of  the  blending  of  the 
Gothic  and  Italian  styles. 

M.  Emile  Molinier,  who  is  one  of 
the  most  learned  and  expert  writers  on 
these  subjects,  refers  in  his  ''Histoire 
gdndrale  des  Arts  appliquds  a  Tlndustrie," 
apropos  of  the  Chateau  of  Gaillon  to  certain 
Italian  plaques  and  engravings,  the  motives 
of  which  were  evidently  reproduced  by  French 
artists  in  the  decorative,  and  even  in  the 
monumental  work,  produced  during  this 
period.  The  double  corbels  introduced  by 
Michelozzi  above  the  gateway  of  the  Palace 
of  the  Medici  at  Milan,  were  very  possibly 
familiar  to  French  cabinet-makers  through 
Mantegnas  engraving  of  the  Flagellation; 
the    dolphins    that    occur  so  frequently  at 

53 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

Gaillon  and  at  Cluny  appear  to  have  been 
borrowed  from  the  frontispieces  of  such 
collections  of  engravings  as  the  St.  Jerome 
printed  in  Venice  in  1498;  the  illustrations 
of  the  '*  Strife  of  Love  as  seen  in  a  Dream 
by  Poliphilo,"*  by  Francesco  Colonna,  issued 
in  the  same  town  in  1499,  seem  to  have 
suggested  the  idea  of  the  siren  and  many 
other  motives;  and  the  dolphin  rolling  itself 
round  an  anchor  introduced  on  the  tomb  of 
Guillaume  Goufifier  in  the  Chapelle  d'Oiron  is 
really  nothing  more  than  an  imitation  of  the 
trade-mark  of  the  great  Venetian  printer 
Aldus  Manutius. 

The  easy  transportation  of  such  decorative 
details  was  not  the  only  reason  for  the  rapid 
propagation  throughout  France  of  the  so- 
called  antique  style.  It  must  be  added  that 
the  cabinet-makers  themselves  were  ready 
enough  to  travel  alone  or  in  groups  from  one 
town  to  another  where  much  building  was 
going  on  and  good  wages  were  paid.  There 
they  produced  works  which  in  their  turn 
served  as  patterns  to  the  native  artists  and 
were  hawked  about  in  other  places.  These 
facts,  of  which  there  are  plenty  of  proofs,  are 

*  A  facsimile  of  this  rare  and  valuable  book,  of  which 
but  very  few  copies  remain,  was  published  in  1894  by 
Messrs.  Methuen,  under  the  original  title,  "  Poliphili 
Hypnerotomachia,"  with  a  pamphlet  giving  its  history. 
— Trans. 

54 


Plate  VII 


RENAISSANCE  DRESSER.     Louvre  Museum 


THE  RENAISSANCE 

enough  to  upset  the  ingenious  theory  evolved 
by  certain  learned  writers,  otherwise  reliable 
enough,  that  it  is  possible  to  classify 
geographically  the  various  centres  of  art 
production  of  the  French  Renaissance.  We 
must  give  up  the  idea  of  being  able  ta 
define  the  characteristics  of  a  Norman  school, 
a  school  of  Champagne,  of  Auvergne,  of  the 
South,  of  Lyons,  of  Tours,  of  Burgundy,  and 
so  on.  The  truth  is  that  the  new  style  took 
possession  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Francis  I.  of  all  the  provinces  at  once, 
appearing  at  first,  as  we  have  seen,  side  by 
side  with  the  Gothic  and  then  gradually 
ousting  it.  Prudence  dictates  the  necessity 
of  relegating  to  the  first  part  of  the  sixteenth 
century  all  works  in  which  any  traces  caa 
still  be  made  out  of  the  old  style,  even  if  every 
detail  of  the  construction  be  foreign,  and  then 
to  consider  those  that  are  evidently  entirely 
Italian  in  spirit.  In  both,  whether  produced 
in  the  North,  the  South,  the  East,  or  the  West,, 
identical  motives  are  everywhere  prevalent ; 
such  as  candelabra,  columns  with  floral 
capitals,  figures  in  relief  beneath  a  canopy  of 
foliage  and  fruit,  or  a  mere  moulding  known  as 
a  chapeau  de  triomphe  or  chaplet  of  victory, 
dolphins,  arabesques  of  conventionalised 
flowers,  and  flat  mouldings  called  bandelettes. 
It  was  in  a  comparatively  short  time  that 

5S 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

Gothic  design,  already  thoroughly  outworn, 
merged  itself  in  the  graceful  style  borrowed 
from  Italy.  In  the  examples  preserved,  the 
progress  year  by  year  of  the  latter  can  be 
distinctly  followed,  traces  of  the  pointed  arch 
becoming  rarer  and  rarer,  taking  refuge  only, 
as  it  were,  in  the  cornices  or  in  the  attenuated 
mouldings,  and  then  finally  disappearing. 
About  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Francis  I., 
therefore,  the  triumph  of  the  style  brought 
over  from  Italy  may  be  said  to  have  been 
complete,  but  in  the  very  moment  of  victory 
it  found  itself  transformed  in  the  hands  and 
at  the  initiative  of  French  artists,  and  com- 
pelled to  submit  to  the  strenuous  influence 
of  their  traditional  taste,  out  of  which  resulted 
a  national  art  of  individual  character,  alike 
vigorous  and  versatile,  known  in  history  as 
the  Henri  II.  style.  We  will  consider  that 
style  in  the  next  chapter.  The  ''  antique 
school,"  strictly  so-called,  has  produced  too 
many  fine  works  to  be  dismissed  in  a  few 
lines,  in  spite  of  those  purists  who  choose  to 
see  in  it  nothing  but  the  decadence,  or,  to  be 
Biore  accurate,  the  complete  disappearance,  of 
French  genius. 

The  word  decadence  should  really  be 
replaced  by  that  of  evolution,  for  transition 
between  two  artistic  systems,  bearing  witness 
to  the  intellectual   as  well   as   the  aesthetic 

56 


THE  RENAISSANCE 

vigour  of  a  nation,  cannot  be  likened  to  a 
decline  leading  to  ruin.  Moreover,  the  evolu- 
tion now  to  be  considered  was  extremely  brief, 
undeniably  brilliant,  and  far  more  French  than 
a  mere  cursory  examination  of  external  appear- 
ances would  lead  us  to  suppose.  If  the  art 
that  prevailed  in  Italy  in  the  time  of  Francis  I., 
such  as  the  painted  marqueterie  and  plaques, 
in  which  quantity  excelled  quality,  be  studied, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  craftsmen  of  France 
did  not  really  produce  mere  counterfeits  of 
those  designs,  and  that  even  when  they 
borrowed  motives,  detail  by  detail,  they 
assimilated  them  with  a  discretion  and  refined 
taste  that  really  recalled  the  work  of  the 
Italians  of  the  fifteenth  rather  than  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  Some  writers  who  recog- 
nise this  fact  as  we  do,  have  not  chosen  to 
explain  it  in  this  simple  manner,  so  glorious 
for  French  craftsmen,  but  make  out  that  the 
works  of  this  period  of  the  Renaissance  were 
actually  produced  by  Italian  artists.  Of 
course  we  are  unable  to  contradict  these 
learned  critics  when  they  claim  such  an  origin 
for  the  panels  and  marqueteries  that  adorn 
the  chapel  of  the  Chateau  of  La  Batie  en 
Forez,  built  by  Claude  d'Urfd,  or  the  panels 
of  the  chapel  and  sacristy  of  the  Chateau  of 
Ecouen  that  are  now  at  Chantilly,  but  it  is 
very   probable  that   these  were   all   actually 

H  57 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

executed  in  Italy  and  brought  over  at  immense 
expense  by  wealthy  connoisseurs.  The  ques- 
tion becomes  an  even  more  delicate  one  when 
we  have  to  deal  with  such  works  as  the  panels 
of  the  Chiteau  of  Fontainebleau,  of  which  it  is 
true  but  a  very  small  portion,  badly  restored 
some  fifty  years  ago,  now  remains,  but  with 
which  many  old  engravings  have  made  us 
familiar.  We  read,  indeed,  in  the  ''Comptes  des 
Batiments  du  Roi  "  that  French  and  Italian 
artists  were  at  work  at  the  same  time  at 
Fontainebleau,  and  it  is  significant  that  one 
of  the  latter,  a  certain  Francisque  Seibecq,  called 
De  Carpi,  received  the  highest  salary  of  them 
all.  It  is,  however,  permissible,  as  much  of 
all  this  is  pure  hypothesis,  to  suggest  that  it 
is  possible  that  this  De  Carpi  was  a  kind  of 
architect  or  director  of  the  works,  in  the 
execution  of  which  he  took  no  actual  share, 
especially  as  we  know  for  certain  that  a  great 
part  of  the  wood-work  was  produced  at  Tours 
by  Masters  Aman  and  Antoine  Les  Bruns, 
who  sent  it  to  Fontainebleau  in  1530.  This 
hypothesis  would  apply  equally  well  to  the 
work  in  the  Louvre  and  St.  Germain-en-Laye 
royal  chdteaux,  to  which  the  cabinet-maker-in- 
ordinary  of  the  King,  Francisque  de  Carpi,  was 
undoubtedly  summoned,  and  perhaps  also  to 
that  in  the  charming  retreat  of  Anet,  a  few 
fragments  of  which  are  preserved  in  the  Ecole 
S8 


Plate  VIII 


MISERERE  STALL     Beginning  of  XVI  Century.  Abbey  of  S.  Denis 


THE  RENAISSANCE 

des  Beaux  Arts  of  Paris,  and  retain  the  im- 
press of  a  double  influence,  for  the  best  artisan 
in  the  employment  of  the  King  is  sure  to  have 
been  sent  to  his  favourite  Diana  of  Poitiers^ 
Chitelaine  of  that  gem  of  architecture. 

If,  however,  in  spite  of  the  reasons  we  have 
urged  against  it,  the  belief  is  still  retained 
that  the  remarkable  decorations  of  these 
palaces  were  to  a  great  extent  the  work  of 
Italians  who  were  living  in  France,  no  one  will 
be  disposed  to  deny  the  simple  character  of 
the  chest  in  the  Carnavalet  Museum,  see 
Plate  XVIII. ,  page  74.  The  boldness  of  the 
carving  recalls  the  broad  treatment  of  the 
best  Gothic  period,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
it  was  designed  by  a  Frenchman  of  good  taste. 
Of  the  armoire,  too,  of  which  we  also  give  an 
illustration,  the  same  thing  may  be  affirmed^ 
enriched  as  it  is  with  groups  of  goddesses  in 
landscape  scenery,  foliage  and  flowers,  eagles 
and  sirens  set  in  a  background  of  graceful, 
well  -  proportioned  architecture,  resembling 
Lombard  damascening  on  Parisian  armour. 
Lastly,  as  a  final  and  clinching  argument,  have 
we  not  the  fine  doorway  of  the  Cathedral  of 
Beauvais  ?  all  the  ornamentation  of  which  is 
in  the  antique  style,  and  the  author  of  which 
we  know  to  have  been  a  true  Frenchman, 
Jean  le  Pot,  who  has  actually  stamped  his  work 
with  a  souvenir  of  the  old  masters  he  would 

59 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

have  been  the  last  to  disown,  by  representing 
Jerusalem  as  a  Gothic  church  in  one  of  his 
bas-reliefs. 

The  national  art  of  France,  then,  con- 
tinued its  development  without  a  break,  like 
a  strong  chain  some  of  the  links  of  which 
were  of  gold  whilst  others  were  of  alloy. 
The  century  we  have  just  been  considering 
is  one  of  the  latter,  but  if  the  metal  was  not 
quite  pure,  never  was  its  workmanship  more 
delicately  skilful.  The  costly  expeditions  to 
Italy  had  as  happy  results  for  the  cultivation 
of  French  taste  and  the  refinement  of  French 
manners  as  had  the  Crusades  in  a  more 
barbarous  age.  It  was  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  VIII.,  that  the  word  ''courtesy,'* 
derived  from  **  court,"  first  came  into  use, 
and  that  the  nobles,  back  again  from  their 
warlike  expeditions  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Alps,  began  to  look  upon  military  virtue,  not, 
as  did  Charles  the  Rash,  as  skill  in  fleecing 
others,  but  as  a  pledge  to  keep  the  word  once 
given,  to  be  true  to  king  and  flag,  to  merit 
the  title  of  a  loyal  servant,  of  a  knight 
without  fear  and  without  reproach,  won  by 
Bayard  under  Louis  XII.  and  Francis  I. 
The  moral  progress  of  the  aristocracy  was 
reflected  amongst  the  people,  and  resulted  in 
the  springing  up  of  the  dlite  cultivated  class 
of  the  bourgeoisie.  Mixing  with  Italian  society 
to 


THE  RENAISSANCE 

had  taught  the  lesson  that  talent  should  be 
honoured,  however  lowly  the  position  of  its 
owner.  Francis  I.,  a  highly  educated  king, 
of  artistic  tastes,  visited  Leonardo  da  Vinci 
on  his  deathbed,  delighted  in  the  conversa- 
tion of  Guillaume  Bud6,  provost  of  the  mer- 
chants, who  advised  him  to  found,  the  College 
of  the  Three  Languages,  out  of  which  grew 
the  College  of  France,  encouraged  Robert 
Estienne  to  develop  the  art  of  printing,  then 
recently  discovered  by  Gutenberg,  enriched 
Amyot,  the  translator  of  Plutarch,  and  pro- 
tected with  his  powerful  friendship  the 
admirable  audacity  of  Rabelais. 

However  foreign  to  our  subject  these 
considerations  may  appear,  they  are,  in  our 
opinion,  indispensable  to  its  complete  com- 
prehension, for  they  explain  the  promptitude 
with  which  the  nation,  flooded  with  so  many 
new  revelations,  accepted  an  art  suggestive 
of  a  refinement  hitherto  unknown.  On 
the  other  hand,  lavish  display  seemed  to  be 
more  than  ever  a  necessity  even  to  commoners. 
In  the  reign  of  Louis  XH.  Charles  Seyssel 
wrote :  '*  Throughout  the  kingdom  great 
buildings  are  being  erected  on  every  side, 
public  as  well  as  private,  covered  with  gilding, 
not  only  on  the  wainscotting  and  the  walls  of 
the  interior,  but  also  on  the  outside,  the  roofs, 
the  towers,  and  the  statues ;  the  houses  are 

6i 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

furnished,  too,  with  all  mannerof  costly  things^ 
such  as  were  never  seen  before.  Moreover,, 
silver  dishes  are  used  by  all  classes  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  has  been  necessary  to  issue 
an  order  to  check  this  superfluity" — it  was 
annulled  two  years  later  on  account  of  its 
uselessness — **  for  there  is  a  certain  set  of 
people  who  will  not  be  content  unless  their 
cups,  goblets,  ewers,  and  spoons  are  of  silver 
at  least/' 

What  would  the  historian  of  Louis  XII. 
have  said  if  he  could  have  seen  what  the 
luxury  of  France  became  under  that  monarch's 
successor  I  The  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold, 
a  city,  enduring  but  for  a  day,  on  which  the 
treasury  of  the  kingdom  was  squandered  ;  the 
Court  of  Fontainebleau,  where  the  young 
Catherine  of  Medici,  the  daughter-in-law  of 
the  King,  at  the  head  of  fifty  ladies  chosen  for 
their  beauty,  organised  incredibly  Isivish/^fes  ; 
and  those  other  almost  as  luxurious  courts 
such  as  that  of  the  Marshal  of  St.  Andr6,  who 
on  his  estate  of  Vallery  surpassed  even  his 
sovereigns  in  the  magnificence  and  beauty  of 
his  rare  and  exquisite  furniture,  or  that  of 
Bonnivet  who  had  the  weapons  of  all  the 
soldiers  of  his  army  engraved  and  gilded ! 


62 


Plate  IX 


firHfi»»viiiiiiw%nff.|iiinn^ 


CHEST.     Beginning  of  XVI  Century.     Cluny  Museum,  Paris 


THE  FIFTH  CHAPTER 

HENRI  II.  AND  THE  SECOND  HALF 
OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY 

HE  style  which  it  has  become  cus- 
tomary to  call  that  of  Henri  II., 
because  it  was  inaugurated  in 
the  reign  of  that  monarch,  who 
was  the  son  of  Francis  I.,  lasted 
imtil  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
— that  is  to  say,  during  the  successive  occupa- 
tion of  the  throne  by  the  four  last  princes  of 
the  house  of  Valois.  It  was  but  the  final 
nationalisation  of  principles  brought  from 
Italy,  the  outcome  of  the  genius  of  the  great 
sculptors,  and  still  more  of  the  great  architects, 
of  the  Renaissance.  Rarely  in  the  history  of 
art  did  so  sudden  a  change  take  place,  or  at 
least  appear  to  take  place.  As  we  have  already 
seen,  scarcely  had  the  Italian  style  attained 
the  dominating  position  in  which  it  often  was 
difficult  to  distinguish  between  French  and 
foreign  work,  before  it  was  in  its  turn  driven 
out  by  the  springing  up  of  a  new  growth  full 
of  sap,  which  took  root  and  bore  fruit  upon 
the  dying  beauty  of  its  predecessor,  much  as 
does  a  rose  upon  the  wild  briar  on  to  which 
it  is  grafted. 

63 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

The  men  who  rose  up  in  response  to  the 
great  thought  movement  of  the  Renaissance, 
encouraged  by  the  royal  patronage  now  ac- 
corded to  art  and  to  all  intellectual  work,  were 
not  likely  to  be  content  with  servilely  copying 
models  originated  by  a  people  whose  traditions 
and  aesthetic  requirements  were  quite  unlike 
their  own.  The  literary  treasures  of  the 
antique  world,  dispersed  after  the  fall  of 
Constantinople  and  vulgarized  by  their  repro- 
duction through  the  newly  discovered  art  of 
printing,  would,  of  course,  make  a  very  dif- 
ferent impression  upon  the  creative  imagina- 
tion of  Jean  Cousin  or  Jean  Goujon  than  they 
did  on  that  of  Donatello,  Michael  Angelo, 
Dello  Delli  or  Andrea  di  Cosimo.  With 
their  chisel,  these  men  created  figures  in 
stone  which  they  presumed  to  be  as  classic 
as  those  shown  them  by  Roman  and  Floren- 
tine artists,  but  which  really,  without  re- 
sembling the  old  Latin  models,  were  the 
expression  of  a  truly  French  spirit.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  architects  of  the  first  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century — when  the  virile  force 
of  mediaeval  times  was,  as  it  were,  becoming 
deteriorated  by  anaemia  and  a  predilection  for 
the  excessive  elegance  borrowed  from  across 
the  frontier — also  looked  upon  antique  art 
from  a  different  point  of  view  than  that  of  the 
Italians.  They  meant  to  copy,  but  they  really 
64 


P^ATE   X 


CARVED  WOOD  CHAIR.     XVI  Century. 
Belonging  to  M.  Chabriere- Aries 


THE  HENRI  H.  STYLE 

interpreted,  and  their  hereditary  sense  of 
harmony  and  fitness  led  them  to  seek  in  the 
remembrance  of  long-banished  buildings  for 
models  of  furniture  better  adapted  to  the 
imagined  surroundings  of  pagan  emperors 
than  were  those  of  the  Gothic  period. 

The  result  of  what  may  be  called  this  great 
latent  activity  was  the  successive  appearance 
of  a  series  of  albums  containing  engravings 
of  designs  for  monuments,  furniture,  and 
decorative  sculpture,  all  inspired  by  antique 
work,  but  for  all  that  marked  by  a  curious 
originality.  It  was  to  these  the  craftsmen 
of  every  part  of  France  simultaneously 
resorted,  to  gather  together  the  elements 
of  the  new  style  known  as  that  of  Henri  II. 
To  encourage  each  designer  whilst  retaining 
his  own  individuality,  to  modify  the  drawings 
given  to  suit  his  special  needs,  was  indeed 
the  chief  aim  of  those  who  issued  these  pub- 
lications— an  aim  frankly  stated  on  the  covers 
of  some  of  them. 

The  authors  of  these  collections  of  en- 
gravings were  a  Parisian  named  Jacques 
Androuet  du  Cerceau  and  a  Burgundian 
called  Hugues  Sambin,  and  as  they  pub- 
lished the  results  of  their  researches  in  the 
towns  in  which  they  lived,  Paris  and  Dijon, 
it  is  easy  to  divide  the  immense  quantities  of 
furniture  produced  in  France  in  the  second  half 

I  65 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

of  the  sixteenth  century  into  two  schools,  that 
of  the  He  de  France,  and  that  of  Burgundy, 
inspired  by  those  two  artists.  This  will  obviate 
the  necessity  of  attempting  to  describe  the 
work  of  the  various  provinces,  the  classifica- 
tion of  which  would  be  of  very  doubtful  value, 
as  the  books  of  engravings  circulated  every- 
where, were  used  by  everybody,  and  give  an 
almost  identical  appearance  to  the  products 
of  widely  separated  districts. 

Little  is  known  of  the  life  of  Andronet  du 
Cerceau,  except  that  he  was  born  about  1510, 
and  travelled  as  a  young  man  in  Italy, 
as  is  proved  by  some  drawings  preserved  at 
Munich  representing  designs  for  St.  Peter's 
at  Rome  and  the  Palazzo  Cancelleria,  copies 
of  antique  architecture,  such  as  the  Thermae  of 
Diocletian,  and  reproductions  of  sketches  by 
Bramante  or  his  competitors,  for  that  great 
architect  was  very  much  the  fashion  in  Italy 
at  that  time.  Du  Cerceau  did  not  hesitate  later 
to  issue  to  the  public  designs  that  were  very 
evidently  inspired  by  Bramante,  giving  to  them 
antique  titles,  and  thus  leading  his  ignorant 
fellow  countrymen  to  adopt  them.  His  laud- 
able intentions,  however,  go  far  to  condone 
this  piece  of  trickery,  for,  says  his  most 
appreciative  biographer  M.  de  Geymiiller, 
it  had  a  double  purpose,  '*  to  make  known 
the  principles  and  forms  of  Italian  art  to 
66 


Plate  XI 


BED   OF    DUKE    ANTOINE    DE    LORRAINE.     XVI    Century. 
Nancy  Museum 


THE  HENRI  H.  STYLE 

all  who  adopted  professions  in  France  con- 
nected with  the  fine  arts,  or  industrial  art, 
as  we  should  say  nowadays,  and  to  set  his 
country  free  from  the  necessity  of  having 
recourse  to  foreign  artists."  He  himself 
practised  architecture,  and  amongst  other 
buildings  designed  the  Chateau  of  Montargis, 
belonging  to  Ren^e  of  Ferrara,  and  rebuilt 
the  choir  of  the  Church  of  the  Madeleine  in 
the  same  town.  After  publishing  a  collection 
of  engravings — the  titles  of  which  indicate 
clearly  enough  the  professions  of  those  for 
whom  they  were  intended,  such  as  the 
**  Book  of  Mathematical  Implements,"  **  The 
Book  of  Architecture,  with  Fifty  Designs  for 
Different  Buildings,"  '*  The  Book  of  Designs 
for  Country  Houses,"  *'  The  Most  Excellent 
Buildings  of  France,"  Boundary  Statues, 
Orders,  Escutcheons,  Designs  for  Trophies, 
Arabesques,  &c. — he  had  an  album  printed 
containing  7 1  designs  for  furniture,  including 
21  cabinets  or  dressers,  24  tables,  a  choir-stall, 
2  doors,  8  beds,  2  brackets,  i  panel,  i  over- 
mantel, 3  terminals,  and  8  socles  or  pedestals. 
The  complicated  prodigality  of  lines  and  orna- 
ments in  these  designs  is  perfectly  astonish- 
ing, and  arouses  a  doubt  as  to  whether  it 
would  be  possible  to  reproduce  them  exactly  ; 
but  this  was  evidently  not  the  intention  of 
the  author,  as  proved  by  the  works  executed 

67 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

during  and  after  his  time.  All  he  wished  was 
that  his  book  should  be,  so  to  speak,  a  mine  of 
ideas,  from  which  craftsmen  might  borrow 
architectural  combinations  and  decorative 
motives,  to  be  arranged  according  to  their 
own  individual  taste.  Hence  the  overloading 
of  every  engraving  with  superfluous  detail, 
which  no  one,  we  should  imagine,  would 
be  so  unreasonable  as  to  attempt  to  copy 
servilely. 

The  examples  we  give  of  engravings  by 
Du  Cerceau,  and  the  reproductions  of  designs 
for  furniture  inspired  by  him,  will  do  more  to 
enlighten  the  reader  than  pages  of  descrip- 
tion of  those  ornate  works.  We  will,  therefore, 
content  ourselves  with  naming  some  of  the 
general  principles  of  the  master — principles 
adopted  by  his  followers,  and  characteristic  of 
the  Henri  H.  style.  Tht  armoires  gtnersilly 
have  four  folding-doors,  two  above  and  two  be- 
low, separated  from  each  other  by  pilasters  sur- 
mounted with  figures  and  greatly  resembling 
an  architectural  facade,  an  effect  sometimes 
increased  by  the  addition  of  niches  containing 
statuettes.  The  dressers  are  of  three  kinds — 
the  first,  a  chest  with  folding-doors,  is  set  up 
as  in  the  old  French  style  on  a  hollow  base 
and  finished  off  at  the  top  with  some  archi- 
tectural ornamentation  ;  the  second  is  divided 
into  two  compartments,  both  open  at  the  back, 
68 


Plate  XII 


DRESSER.    After  an  engraving  by  Jacques  Androuet  du  Cerceau 


Plate    XIU 


BED.    After  an  engraving  by  Jacques  Androuet  du  Cerceau 


THE  HENRI  H.  STYLE 

so  that  all  the  decoration  there  is  is  on  the 
columns  or  the  frieze ;  the  third  has  three 
such  open  compartments.  The  beds  are  in 
two  styles — some,  of  rectangular  shape,  have  a 
so-called  dossier,  four  balusters  supporting  a 
dais,  and  feet  carved  to  represent  griffins  or 
chimaerae  ;  others,  shaped  like  flat-bottomed 
boats,  are  narrower  at  the  feet  than  at  the  head, 
they  have  a  dossier  and  three  balusters  to  up- 
hold the  dais,  two  at  the  head  and  one  at  the 
foot,  representing  a  man  or  woman  standing 
upright,  the  whole  resting  on  a  very  lofty 
pedestal  resembling  the  letter  T.  The  tables 
are  round  or  rectangular,  but  no  examples  of 
the  former  have  come  down  to  us ;  engravings 
in  the  *'  Album,"  however,  represent  them  as 
upheld  by  two  fan-shaped  feet,  the  rays  of  the 
fans  forming  a  star,  the  centre  of  the  point  of 
intersection  being  hollowed  out  to  receive  an 
ornament  in  relief,  such  as  a  vase  or  a  palmette. 
A  unique  example  of  a  round  table  is  one  with 
one  foot  only,  carved  into  a  succession  of 
bulbs  one  above  the  other,  which  open  out  into 
coiling  serpents,  running  beneath  the  top  of 
the  table  so  as  to  support  it,  whilst  at  the  base 
is  a  symmetrical  row  of  tortoises.  Angular 
tables  after  Du  Cerceau's  designs  are  often 
met  with.  They  generally  have  two  fan- 
shaped  supports  upholding  the  two  ends  of 
the  table,  or,  to  be  more  correct,  of  the  inlaid 

69 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

or  beaded  cincture  that  leads  up  to  it,  and  the 
narrow  bases  of  the  feet  rest  upon  patens  con- 
nected by  traverses,  from  which  spring  pillars 
and  arches,  or  intersecting  rails,  which  add  to 
the  strength  of  the  table — the  lavishness  of  the 
decoration  culminating  in  the  supports,  in 
which  the  designer  gave  the  rein  to  his 
imagination. 

Hugues  Sambin,  some  ten  years  younger 
than  Du  Cerceau,  was  the  son  of  a  carpenter, 
and  became  a  member  of  the  Corporation  in 
1549.  That  he  rose  rapidly  through  his  skill 
as  an  engineer  and  grip  of  the  art  of  architec- 
ture, is  proved  by  reliable  documents  stating 
that  in  1558  he  had  charge  of  the  ** artillery" 
at  Dijon,  where  he  resided,  that  in  1560  he 
regulated  the  course  of  the  river  Suzon,  was 
concerned  in  the  supply  of  water  for  the 
public  fountains  of  that  town,  was  employed 
in  1572  by  Ldonor  Chabot,  Grand  Equerry  of 
France,  to  decorate  his  chdteau  at  Pagny, 
superintended  from  1574  to  1582  the  works 
of  the  most  important  buildings  of  Dijon, 
the  Palais  de  Justice,  and  Chambre  des 
Requites,  the  walls  of  the  fortifications  and  a 
communal  building,  returning  at  the  latter 
date  to  his  original  profession,  for  he  was  the 
author  of  the  exquisite  sculptures  of  the  choir- 
screen  of  the  chapel  of  the  Palais  de  Justice, 
those  of  the  door  of  the  Archives,  and  also 
70 


Plate  XIII 


CUPBOARD.     By  Hugues  Sambin. 
Arconati-Visconti  Collection 


Middle  of  XVI  Century 


THE  HENRI  H.  STYLE 

probably  of  the  outer  entrance.  Before  his 
death,  in  1602,  this  indefatigable  and  gifted 
artist  designed  the  rood-loft  of  the  Church  of 
Dole,  and  superintended  the  works  of  defence 
at  Salins.  Between  whiles  he  produced  an 
album  of  designs  for  Caryatides,  published  a 
series  of  engravings  under  the  title  of  *'GEuvre 
de  la  diversity  des  termes  dont  on  use  en  archi- 
tecture," and  executed  a  number  of  pieces  of 
furniture,  whilst  he  superintended  the  pro- 
duction of  many  others. 

In  these  minor  works  the  Burgundian 
artist  gave  proof  of  a  very  prolific  and  power- 
ful imagination.  He  lavished  carvings  of 
figures,  fruit,  and  foliage  on  the  surface  of  the 
wood  with  a  view  to  giving  a  general  impres- 
sion of  richness,  whilst  Du  Cerceau  gave 
more  attention  to  grace  of  line,  and  relied  for 
effect  chiefly  upon  the  wealth  of  beautiful, 
but  often  minute  detail.  The  former  de- 
lighted in  carving  lions'  heads,  eagles  with 
mighty  wings,  voluptuous  women,  and 
muscular  satyrs  with  merry  faces.  The  latter 
was  a  fervent  admirer  of  the  long-limbed, 
elegant-looking  goddesses  which  Jean  Goujon 
borrowed  from  the  Italian  artists  who  worked 
at  Fontainebleau,  and  which  became  widely 
popular  through  the  work  of  the  school  that 
took  its  name  from  this  favourite  residence 
of    Francis    I.    and    Henri    II.     Moreover, 

71 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

whereas  the  Parisian  master  set  the  ex- 
ample of  a  French  modification  of  Italian 
motives,  to  the  Burgundian  is  due  the  credit 
of  encouraging  his  disciples  in  a  frank 
audacity  and  bold  interpretation  of  those 
motives  which  really  resulted  in  a  revival  of 
the  beautiful  craft  of  the  cabinet-makers  of 
the  great  mediaeval  period.  In  the  dressers 
made  in  the  reign  of  Henri  IV.  we  see  the 
final  collapse  of  the  school  of  Du  Cerceau 
but  a  few  years  after  the  death  of  the  founder 
of  the  He  de  France  school,  whereas  in  the 
so-called  Louis  XIV.  style  can  be  traced  its 
derivation  from  the  true  Gallic  art  originated 
by  the  architect-craftsman  of  Dijon. 

The  Museum  of  Besan^on  owns  two 
pieces  of  furniture  that  are  supposed  to  be  the 
actual  work  of  Hugues  Sambin — a  table  and 
an  armoire.  Although  the  design  is  far  more 
complicated  than  that  of  the  door  of  the 
Archives  or  the  choir-screen  of  the  chapel  of 
the  Palais  de  Justice  at  Dijon,  the  authenticity 
of  which  is  fully  established,  these  works  were 
certainly  either  executed  by  him,  or  at  least, 
which  is  much  the  same  thing,  produced  after 
his  designs  under  his  superintendence,  so  that 
we  feel  justified  in  briefly  describing  them  as 
typical  examples  of  the  Burgundian  style. 
The  master  was,  it  is  well  known,  at  Besan^on 
in  1 58 1,  and  took  up  his  residence  with  a 
72 


Plate  XIV 


y5t^ 


CUPBOARD.     Middle  of  XVI  Century 


Plate  XV 


SIDEBOARD.     Epoch  Francis  I.     Cluny  Museum 


Plate  XVI 


PANEL  OF  CUPBOARD     School  of  Hugues  Sambin.     Middle  of 
XVI  Century.     Boy  Collection 


THE  HENRI  H.  STYLE 

carpenter  and  painter  belonging  to  the 
Gauthiot  d'Ancier  family.  Indeed,  the  two 
pieces  of  furniture  in  question  figure  in  the 
inventory  of  that  house,  and  the  armoire 
bears  the  date  1581.  The  table  is  upheld  by 
two  fan-shaped  supports,  the  central  portion 
of  which  is  a  terminal  ending  in  the  head  of 
a  grinning  satyr,  whilst  the  sides  are  two 
volutes  ending  at  the  bottom  in  lion's  claws 
and  at  the  top  in  rams'  heads,  rather  clumsy 
for  the  size  of  the  table,  but  well  carved  ;  the 
massive  rests  are  decorated  with  foliage,  and 
the  edge  of  the  table  with  carved  ornamenta- 
tion. The  armoire  is,  perhaps,  unique  amongst 
the  furniture  of  the  second  half  of  the  Renais- 
sance, on  account  of  its  complicated  structure, 
although  simplicity  was  never  a  characteristic 
of  that  time.  It  bears  some  resemblance  to  a 
dresser  by  a  pediment  upholding  the  central 
portion,  which  is  of  semi-circular  form,  and 
is  further  supported  by  brackets  jutting 
out  from  a  single  console,  the  base  of  which 
now  represents  a  chimaera  that  replaces  a 
*' satyr  holding  a  cow-herd's  horn,"  referred  to 
in  the  old  inventory ;  on  either  side  is  a  two- 
storied  wardrobe,  separated  by  a  drawer. 
Architectural  motives  are  carved  along  the 
top,  and  on  a  pediment  upheld  by  female 
figures  are  the  arms  of  the  Gauthiot  family, 
and  a  bas-relief  of  various  trophies.     To  wind 

K  73 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

up  a  description  that  may  serve  to  give  some 
idea  of  the  lavishness  of  Burgundian  orna- 
ment we  may  add  that  on  the  front,  which  is 
divided  by  columns,  and  along  the  top  of  the 
armoire  eight  mythological  figures,  represent- 
ing Lucretia,  Mercury,  Flora,  Ceres,  Pan, 
Envy,  Apollo,  and  Orpheus,  are  painted  in 
cameo  picked  out  with  gold. 

As  we  have  had  occasion  to  refer  to  paint- 
ings on  the  work  of  Sambin,  we  must  warn 
our  readers  that  the  impression  produced  at 
the  present  day  by  furniture  of  earlier  date 
than  the  seventeenth  century  with  what  may 
be  called  the  beautiful  patina  of  the  old  wood, 
polished  by  the  action  of  time  till  it  looks  like 
antique  bronze,  is  quite  unlike  what  it  was  in 
mediaeval  and  Renaissance  times.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  all  these  pieces  of  furniture 
were  originally  covered  with  paintings  which 
would  have  seemed  garish  in  modern  rooms. 
But  before  we  criticise  this  vanished  fashion 
we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  way  of  looking 
at  things  differs  very  much  at  different 
periods — a  fact  that  should  never  be  lost  sight 
of  in  dealing  with  the  art  of  the  past.  The 
Greeks,  for  instance,  to  quote  but  one  example, 
painted  the  marbles  of  Phidias,  and  indeed 
all  their  sculptures,  with  purely  conventional 
colours.  Moreover,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  in  old  France,  rooms  were  verv  large  and 
74 


Plate  XVII 


TABLE.     Second  half  of  XVI  Century.     School  of  Hugues  Sambin 


r^'??^®^^^^^''' 


Plate  XVIII 


CHEST.     Middle  of  XVI  Century.     Carnavalet  Museum,  Paris 


THE  HENRI  H.  STYLE 

scantily  furnished,  whilst  the  walls  were 
hung  with  tapestries  of  gorgeous  colouring, 
so  that  if  the  natural  colour  of  the  wood  of 
the  sideboards,  wardrobes,  and  tables,  the 
dark  shining  tones  of  which  we  now  admire 
so  much,  had  been  left  untouched,  the  effect 
would  have  been  cold  and  gloomy.  We  give 
a  reproduction  of  an  armoire  belonging  to 
Mme.  la  Comtesse  Arconati-Visconti,  which 
is  specially  valuable  because  it  retains  traces 
of  painting  and  gilding  that  leave  no  doubt 
as  to  the  brilliancy  of  the  colours  used  to 
embellish  the  work  of  cabinet-makers. 

We  will  not  pause  long  over  the  remark- 
able personalities  of  Du  Cerceau  and  Sambin, 
who  were  really  great  enough  to  dominate 
half  a  century.  The  illustrations  accompany- 
ing our  remarks  will  do  more  to  bring  out 
the  strength  of  their  influence  than  the  de- 
scriptions we  have  felt  bound  to  give,  and 
our  necessarily  arbitrary  classification  of  a 
subject  that  has  already  been  treated  by  many 
others. 

Simultaneously  with  the  engravings  of 
these  two  masters,  many  drawings,  some  of 
which  have  been  preserved,  were  circulated  in 
the  ateliers  and  elsewhere  throughout  the 
whole  of  France.  Some  few,  and  those  by  no 
means  the  least  artistic,  were  the  work  of 
their  disciples.     The  name  of  one  only  has 

75 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

come  down  to  us,  that  of  Etienne  de  FAuln, 
who  worked  chiefly  in  the  reign  of  Henri  IV. ; 
but  now  and  then  part  of  some  good  design 
happened  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  clever 
artist  with  little  imagination,  who  would 
simply  content  himself  with  reproducing  it 
exactly  on  all  the  panels  of  some  piece  of 
furniture.  This  was  the  case  with  one  of  the 
best  decorated  armoires  of  the  end  of  the 
sixteenth  century  which  passed  from  the 
Spitzer  to  the  Salting  collection,  and  has  on 
each  of  its  folding-doors  a  carving  of  the 
antique  Laocoon,  the  pose  being  simply 
reversed. 

In  some  few  examples  that  have  been  pre- 
served it  is  very  evident  that  the  artists 
responsible  took  their  decorative  motives  from 
the  Dijon  and  Paris  drawings  they  chanced 
to  come  across,  combining  sometimes,  for 
instance,  the  Dianas  of  Jean  Goujon  with 
grinning  satyrs.  It  was  inevitable  that 
this  fusion  of  the  two  schools  should  take 
place,  and  the  fact  does  not  militate  in 
the  least  against  the  classification  we  have 
adopted.  A  good  example  of  this  composite 
style  is  a  dresser  that  belonged  to  the  Soulages 
collection,  and  is  now  in  the  South  Kensing- 
ton Museum.  It  dates  from  the  very  end  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  in  it  will  be  recog- 
nised chimaerae  copied  from  Du  Cerceau, 
76 


Plate  XIX 


DRESSER.     Second  half  of  XVI  Century.     School  of  Du  Cerceau 


Plate  XX 


TABLE.     Second  half  of  XVI  Century.  School  of  Hugues  Samb  in. 
Dijon  Museum 


LATE  XXI 


CHEST.     Second  half  of  XVI  Century.     Louvre  Museum 


THE  HENRI  H.  STYLE 

female  forms  borrowed  from  Hugues  Sambin 
combined  with  a  figure  of  Justice  inspired 
by  some  German  medal.  It  was  this  combi- 
nation of  motives  in  a  single  work,  the 
reason  for  which  was  not  at  first  detected 
by  provincial  scholars,  that  led  to  the  illusion 
of  there  having  been  some  great  schools  in 
Southern  France  that  flourished  independ- 
ently of  those  in  the  North.  This  very  dresser 
at  South  Kensington  is  indeed  quoted  as  one 
of  the  proofs  of  the  ingenuity  of  the  school  of 
Languedoc,  or  rather  of  Toulouse,  where  a 
certain  talented  cabinet-maker,  Nicolas  Bache- 
lier,  rose  into  notice,  who,  like  Du  Cerceau, 
travelled  in  Italy  as  a  young  man,  and 
like  Sambin,  was  an  engineer,  architect, 
sculptor,  and  designer  of  furniture.  He 
made  the  plans  of  the  chdteaux  of  Assier  and 
Montal,  now  destroyed,  began  the  bridge  of 
Saint  Subra  at  Toulouse,  designed  and 
executed  the  tomb  of  Galiot  de  Genouilhac, 
Governor  of  Languedoc,  and  is  credited  with 
having  been  the  sculptor  of  the  main  doorway 
of  the  church  of  Saint  Saturnin  at  Toulouse, 
of  the  choir-screen  of  the  Cathedral  of  Rodez, 
of  an  open-work  stone  screen  in  the  chapel  of 
Saint  Sepulcre,  and  with  having  built  several 
private  houses  in  his  native  city,  and  produced 
also  a  quantity  of  furniture.  Amongst  the  last 
were  the  choir-stalls  of  St.  Saturnin,  specially 

77 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

celebrated  because  one  of  the  misereres 
represents  Calvin — who  has  a  pig's  head — 
preaching.  We  have  already  shown  that  the 
originality  of  this  master,  and  of  the  Langue- 
doc  artisans  who  followed  him,  will  not  stand 
the  test  of  serious  examination.  It  is,  how- 
ever, only  fair  to  add  that  they  were  inspired 
by  other  artists  as  well  as  those  of  the  North, 
for  they  knew  the  work  of  the  Spanish,  and 
also  of  the  Flemish  masters.  The  latter  were 
the  subjects  of  "•  the  most  Catholic  King,"  and 
were  especially  in  repute  and  much  copied  in 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century — 
that  is  to  say,  at  a  time  when  not  only 
Languedoc  but  the  whole  of  France  were 
more  or  less  impregnated  by  the  taste  of 
their  neighbours  in  the  North,  on  whose 
influence  we  shall  dwell  more  at  length  in  our 
next  chapter. 

The  impression  resulting  from  an  exami- 
nation of  all  this  furniture  of  complicated 
structure  and  inordinate  decoration,  dating 
from  the  second  part  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
is  very  much  the  same  as  that  produced 
through  studying  the  history  of  the  manners 
of  the  time.  French  life  under  Henri  II., 
Charles  IX.,  and  Henri  III.,  all  semi-Italian 
princes,  dominated  by  their  talented  mother 
the  Florentine  Catherine  de  Medici,  was  an 
extraordinary  mixture  of  terror  and  luxury, 
78 


Plate  XXII 


DRESSER.     Second    half    of    XVI    Century.     Garde    Meuble 
National,  Paris 


THE  HENRI  H.  STYLE 

for  in  the  midst  of  the  horrible  butchery 
of  the  religious  wars,  when  such  notorious 
crimes  as  the  assassination  of  Condd 
at  Jarnac,  of  Guise  at  Blois,  and  Coligny 
at  Paris,  were  committed,  luxury  of  the  most 
effeminate  type  prevailed  at  the  court  of  the 
last  kings  of  the  house  of  Valois.  In  this 
connection  should  be  read  Pierre  del'Estoile's 
description  of  the  wedding  of  the  Due  de 
Joyeuse,  the  festivities  at  the  celebration  of 
which  cost  the  King  twelve  hundred  thousand 
crowns,  and  Michel  de  Castelnau's  account  of 
the  fites  held  by  Catherine  de  Medici,  at 
which  sirens  haunted  the  water-channels  of 
Fontainebleau,and  a  wooded  island  was  impro- 
vised to  receive  the  Queen  of  Spain,  who  was 
escorted  to  it  by  the  French  Court  on  a  fleet 
of  magnificent  boats  followed  by  musicians 
and  singers  dressed  as  Tritons !  Private 
individuals  followed  the  noble  example  set  by 
these  prodigal  gallants.  Cardinal  du  Bellay, 
Ambassador  at  Rome,  gave  his  guests  at  a 
banquet  their  choice  of  one  thousand  dishes 
of  fish,  and  fifteen  hundred  of  baked  meats, 
and  this  was  but  a  poor  feast  compared  with 
the  collation  spread  by  the  municipality  of 
Paris  for  the  wife  of  Charles  IX.,  at  which  the 
entremet  consisted  of  a  presentation  in  sugar 
of  the  whole  history  of  Minerva,  from  the 
moment  when  she  issued  in  complete  armour 

79 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

from  the  brain  of  Jupiter  to  that  when  she 
brought  Perseus,  slayer  of  the  Gorgon, 
mounted  on  Pegasus,  back  to  Athens,  thus 
symbolising  ''  the  discomfiture  of  the  enemies, 
past  and  future,  of  the  King,  overwhelmed  by 
his  magnificence  and  by  his  success  in  every 
enterprise  through  following  the  counsels  of 
his  Minerva." 

This  extravagant  spirit  was  reflected 
in  the  domestic  furniture  of  the  home  by 
the  excess  of  ornamentation  lavished  upon 
it,  such  as  volutes,  flowers,  and  foliage, 
nymphs,  dryads,  and  fauns.  Everything 
must  be  alike  costly  and  distorted,  and  for 
the  sake  of  this  an  amount  of  constraint  and 
discomfort  was  endured,  very  significant  of  a 
robustness  of  physique  of  which  there  is 
plenty  of  proof  in  the  sanguinary  exploits  of 
Montluc,  the  Baron  des  Adrets,  Francois  de 
Guise,  and  the  Valois  princes  themselves. 
If  we  are  appalled  at  the  martyrdom  endured 
by  the  wearers  of  the  huge,  though  dainty 
starched  ruffs  enclosing  the  throat  as  in  a  vice, 
the  bodices  with  steel  braces  for  drawing  back 
the  shoulders  so  as  to  give  prominence  to  the 
bust,  and  the  weight  of  the  robes  stretched  at 
the  hips  over  regular  armour  made  by  the 
blacksmith,  we  are  no  less  astonished  at  the 
idea  of  any  rest  being  obtained  on  chairs,  the 
straw  cushions  of  which  did  little  to  lessen 
80 


Plate  XXIII 


DRESSER.     Second  half  of  XVI  Century.     Louvre  Museum 

Plate   XXIV 


CHEST.     End  of  XVI  Century.     Louvre  Museum 


THE  HENRI  H.  STYLE 

their  hardness,  or  in  beds  that  could  only  be 
climbed  into  with  difficulty,  and  bristled  with 
balusters  and  posts,  or  caryatides,  as  provoca- 
tive of  night-mare  as  were  the  monsters  that 
served  as  their  pedestals. 


8i 


THE  SIXTH  CHAPTER 

THE  SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY 

BEFORE  THE  ACCESSION  OF 

LOUIS   XIV 

PEAKING  generally,  two-thirds 
of  the  seventeenth  century  may 
be  said  to  have  been  taken  up 
in  a  laborious  effort  on  the  part 
of  French  artists  to  assimilate 
all  the  foreign  decorative  styles  of  the  time, 
and  to  evolve  from  them  a  definitely  national 
style,  which  won  for  Louis  XIV.  more  truly 
than  did  any  historical  event,  the  honour  of 
giving  his  name  to  the  whole  epoch. 

During  the  reigns  of  Henri  IV.  and 
Louis  XIII.  it  seemed  as  if  the  aesthetic 
feeling  of  the  whole  country  was  becoming 
ever  more  and  more  tainted  by  the  influence 
of  the  foreign  products  that  crossed  the 
frontier,  and  that  the  effeminate  mannerism 
of  the  Court  of  Henri  III.  had  finally  dis- 
couraged original  effort  on  the  part  of  French 
craftsmen.  Italian  work  was  in  special  favour, 
as  was  but  natural,  in  view  of  the  marriage  of 
the  new  King  to  a  Medici,  who,  of  course, 
attracted  her  fellow  countrymen  to  her  Court ; 
but  vSpanish  artists  were  also  thought  highly 
82 


Plate  XXV 


CHAIR.     Louis  XIII.     Cluny  Museum 


FOREIGN  INFLUENCE 

of,  and  the  Ambassador  from  Spain  exercised 
a  very  powerful  influence  over  the  narrow- 
minded  Queen,  whilst  under  pretext  of  aiding 
the  Catholics  in  the  religious  wars  Spanish 
troops  were  poured  into  the  country.  Nor 
were  Flanders,  Germany — whence  came  the 
piece  of  furniture  presented  by  the  City  of 
Paris  in  1619  to  Talon,  the  first  Avocat- 
Gdndral  of  the  Parlement- — Portugal,  or  the 
Low  Countries  neglected.  The  last-named 
were  themselves  already  imbued  with  Italian 
ideas,  and,  almost  simultaneously  with 
France,  they  had  endeavoured  to  stamp 
them  with  their  own  individuality — but,  it 
must  be  added,  without  the  genius  of 
a  Du  Cerceau  or  a  Sambin  to  aid  them.  In 
a  word,  France  seemed  in  danger  of  drifting 
into  a  decadence  of  the  worst  type,  no  longer 
drawing  her  inspiration  direct  from  Italy,  but 
aimlessly  vacillating  between  this  style  and 
that,  becoming  ever  more  and  more  anaemic 
and  emasculated.  Henri  IV.,  a  man  of  no 
little  intelligence,  could  not  fail  to  notice  the 
discouragement  under  which  the  artists  of  his 
country  laboured,  and  he  set  to  work  to  find 
a  remedy  for  it,  hitting  on  one  which  seemed 
likely  to  hasten  the  final  catastrophe,  for  he 
sent  craftsmen  to  Holland  to  study  the  pro- 
cess of  carving  in  ebony,  and  on  their  return 
installed  them  in  the  Grand  Gallery  of  the 

83 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

Louvre,  side  by  side  with  foreigners.  This 
example  was  followed  by  his  son,  for  the 
accounts  of  Louis  XIIL  reveal  the  fact  that 
even  in  his  palace  the  art  of  decoration  was 
taught  by  masters — such  as  the  German 
Hanemann,  the  Fleming  Stabre,  and  the 
Swiss  Pierre  Boulle — of  every  nationality 
except  Italian. 

Beforeproving  that,  in  spite  of  this  invasion 
of  France  by  foreign  styles,  she  did  succeed  in 
bringing  about  a  new  manifestation  of  her 
own  individual  genius,  secretly,  as  it  were, 
turning  to  account  the  superabundant  models 
at  her  disposal  by  her  recognition  of  their 
defects,  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  define  the 
characteristics  of  those  styles  and  of  those 
models. 

We  repeat  that  for  more  than  a  centur)'' 
and  a  half  Italy  had  never  ceased  to  exercise 
an  influence  upon  her  neighbour,  and  the 
accession  of  a  second  Medici  had  certainly 
not  tended  to  weaken  that  influence.  More- 
over, in  1603  certain  allies,  even  more  im- 
portant than  the  Queen  herself  and  her 
Florentine  Court,  came  to  its  support,  for  in 
that  year  the  Jesuits,  who  had  been  expelled 
from  France  in  1595,  were  recalled.  Their 
religious  zeal  led  them  to  begin  at  once  to 
build  colleges  and  churches  on  every  side, 
and  they  chose  as  director-general  of  these 

84 


Plate  XXVI 


ARMCHAIR.     Epoch  Louis  XIII.     Cluny  Museum 


L^ 


Plate  XXVII 


CHAIR.     Epoch  Louis  XIII.     Palace  of  Elysee 


FOREIGN  INFLUENCE 

works  the  so-called  ** temporal  coadjutor," 
Etienne  Martellange,  who  had  passed  the 
time  of  the  exile  of  the  Congregation  at 
Rome,  where  he  had  acquired  a  remarkable 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  architecture, 
which  made  up  to  some  extent  for  his  want 
of  imagination  and  very  inferior  taste. 
For  thirty  years  he  was  engaged  in  raising 
up  all  over  France  pretentious  structures, 
cold  and  correct,  but  uninteresting,  in  the 
pseudo-classic  Roman  style,  inaugurating  in 
building  as  in  furniture  the  kind  of  thing 
too  well  known  under  the  name  of  the  Jesuit 
style.  Another  incidental  and  less  accidental 
reason  for  the  persistence  of  Italianism  in 
domestic  furniture  was  the  rage  for  cabinets 
which  first  set  in  during  the  reign  of  Henri  III. 
Strictly  speaking,  a  cabinet  is  nothing 
more  than  an  ordinary  chest  placed  upon  a 
stand,  opening,  not,  as  at  first,  at  the  top,  but 
with  one  or  more  folding-doors  on  one  side, 
with  drawers  inside.  It  may  really  be  called 
an  armoire  de  htxe  for  keeping  valuable 
articles,  and  for  this  reason  the  makers 
delighted  in  decorating  it  as  lavishly  as 
possible.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  cabinet 
is  of  Oriental  origin,  but  it  is  difficult  to  decide 
whether  it  was  first  used  in  Europe  in  Spain 
or  in  Venice.  However  that  may  be,  it  was 
Italian  artists  who  chiefly  excelled  in  the  con- 

85 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

struction,  and  still  more  in  the  decoration,  of 
cabinets,  with  the  result  that  from  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  century  the  demand  for  those 
exported  from  the  Peninsula  became  immense. 
Italian  manufacturers  used  for  them  costly 
exotic  woods,  which  they  inlaid  with  coloured 
marqueterie,  ivory,  shells,  mother-of-pearl, 
&c.,  all  enriched  with  jewellery.  The  new 
impulse  given  by  such  delicate  decorative 
work  to  artisans  and  craftsmen  will  be  recog- 
nised at  once.  The  use  of  bronze  in  the 
ornamentation  of  French  furniture,  of  which 
so  many  examples  exist,  was  without  doubt 
suggested  by  the  delightful  combinations  of 
gold  and  silver  designed  by  cabinet-makers  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Alps.  The  use  of  tortoise- 
shell  plaques,  in  which  the  Boulles  excelled, 
was  also  evidently  suggested  by  the  mosaics 
which  Florentine  artists  began  in  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century  to  work  into  their 
little  cabinets  and  the  tops  of  their  tables. 
Strange  to  say,  at  the  beginning  of  the  century 
an  incomprehensible  and  melancholy  whim 
led  Northern  craftsmen  to  use  ebony,  originally 
a  mere  accessory  of  marqueterie,  as  the 
material  for  the  whole  of  the  cabinets  made 
by  them  without  anything  to  relieve  it,  and  it 
was  to  study  this  kind  of  work  that  Henri  IV. 
sent  some  carefully  selected  workmen  to 
Holland,  assigning  to  them  quarters  in  the 
86 


Plate  XXVIII 


EBONY  CHEST.     Epoch  Louis  XIII.    Palace  of  Fontainebleau 


FOREIGN  INFLUENCE 

Louvre  on  their  return,  and  dubbing  them 
menuisiers  en  ^bdne,  which  is  the  origin  of 
the  name  of  ''ebenistes,"  given  to-day  to 
makers  of  furniture  of  every  kind.  A  great 
many  Italian  cabinets  have  been  preserved  in 
France,  one  of  which  in  the  Cluny  Museum 
may  be  quoted  as  a  typical  example.  It  is 
supposed  to  have  belonged  to  Maria  Gonzaga, 
Queen  of  Poland,  and  is  of  very  complicated 
structure,  so  overladen  with  all  manner  of 
ornamentation,  inlaid  and  appliqu^  in  metal 
and  other  materials,  that  it  is  really  less  like 
a  work  of  art  than  a  masterpiece  in  the  sense 
understood  by  municipal  juries — that  is  to 
say,  an  accumulation  of  tricks  of  various 
trades.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  what  kind  of 
technical  lessons  such  pieces  of  work  would 
give  to  the  artisans  of  other  countries  !  The 
French  got  from  it  not  only  the  idea  to 
which  we  have  already  referred  of  using 
gilded  bronze,  but  also  of  inlaying  gold  and 
silver  in  iron — a  process  known  as  damas- 
cening, such  as  was  employed,  for  instance, 
in  a  large  pier  glass  in  the  South  Kensington 
Museum. 

Spain,  which  ever  since  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury had  supplied  France  with  quantities  of 
the  painted  and  gilded  leather  hangings  for 
rooms  known  zs  guadamacillaSy  now  began  to 
export  also  numerous  cabinets,  that  can  easily 

87 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

be  identified  by  their  cubic  shape  and  the 
open-work  metal  plaques  with  which  they 
were  decorated  in  accordance  with  Moorish 
traditions.  These  pieces  of  furniture,  of 
which  the  best  existing  examples  are  at  South 
Kensington,  were  formerly  known  as  var- 
guenos,  for  the  chief  place  of  manufacture 
was  Varguo,  in  the  province  of  Toledo.  In- 
laid wood,  ivory,  or  painted  bone  are  the  only 
decorations  employed.  These  cabinets  do  not 
really  seem  to  have  had  any  direct  share  in 
the  evolution  of  the  Louis  XIV.  style,  in  spite 
of  the  favour  they  enjoyed  for  a  time.  It 
was,  indeed,  rather  through  their  tributary 
province  of  Flanders,  which  had,  however, 
already  been  brought  under  Italian  influence, 
that  Spanish  craftsmen  produced  any  effect 
upon  those  of  France.  Moreover,  the  ex- 
ports from  Portugal  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Pyrenees  were  looked  upon  as  costly  curiosities 
rather  than  models  to  be  imitated  ;  the  variety 
of  choice  woods  brought  to  Lisbon  for  the 
manufacture  of  furniture,  the  suitability  of 
Asiatic  materials,  such  as  tortoiseshell  and 
mother-of-pearl,  for  inlaid  work,  were,  of 
course,  at  first  extremely  attractive  to  Italian 
craftsmen,  enamoured  as  they  were  of  the 
mosaic  marquetry,  known  as  tarsia,  and  it 
is  possible  that  it  was  through  these  latter 
that  a  few  indications  of  the  Portuguese  style 
88 


FOREIGN  INFLUENCE 

may  have  become  incorporated  in  that  which 
we  are  about  to  study. 

Cabinets  of  German  fabrication  were  cele- 
brated in  Europe  in  the  first  years  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  We  have  already  noted  how 
the  municipality  of  Paris,  rich  though  it  was  in 
good  craftsmen  of  its  own,  chose  to  purchase 
a  famous  German  piece  of  furniture  for  a 
ceremonial  gift.  The  merit  of  these  works 
did  not,  however,  consist  in  the  originality  of 
their  structure,  which  was  simply  copied  from 
the  Italian  style,  nor  in  the  novelty  of  the 
processes  of  decoration  employed,  for  the  use 
of  amber  in  certain  examples  was  the  only 
innovation,  but  in  the  minute  and  scrupulous 
care  with  which  every  detail  was  executed. 
This  unwearying  patience,  alike  the  dis- 
tinctive merit  and  defect  of  the  Teutonic 
character,  which  makes  Germany  the  home 
par  excellence  of  archaeologists  and  theo- 
retical philosophers,  is  displayed  in  the 
enormous  output  of  work  by  an  immense 
number  of  craftsmen,  working  chiefly  at 
Nuremberg  and  Augsburg.  In  1616  the 
ebenist  Ulrich  Baumgartet  was  commanded 
by  the  Duke  of  Pomerania  to  make  a  cabinet 
which  it  took  him  five  years  to  produce — with 
the  aid  of  the.  architect-painter  Philippe 
Hainofer,  and  three  other  painters,  a  sculptor, 
an  enamellist,  six  jewellers,  two  clock-makers. 

M  89 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

an  organ-maker,  a  mechanician,  a  modeller 
in  wax,  a  specialist  in  making  cabinets,  an 
engraver  in  metal,  a  chaser  of  precious  stones, 
a  turner,  a  binder,  two  scabbard-makers, 
and  two  locksmiths.  The  work  is  now  in 
the  Museum  of  Industrial  Art  at  Berlin  ; 
the  execution  is  perfect,  but  no  one  will  be 
surprised  when  we  add  that  it  is  also  too 
complicated  and  heavy,  and  as  a  whole  far 
from  artistic.  Our  only  reason  for  dwelling 
on  it  at  length  is  to  give  an  idea  of  the 
technical  and  intellectual  characteristics  con- 
tributed to  the  revival  of  the  French  school 
by  the  numerous  German  craftsmen  who 
crossed  the  Rhine. 

Holland,  especially  what  were  then  its 
Flemish  provinces,  sent  to  France  very  nearly 
as  many  skilled  craftsmen  as  Germany. 
Prosperity  had  returned  to  the  districts  long 
terrorised  by  the  government  of  the  Duke  of 
Alba,  and  Antwerp  became  the  headquarters 
of  the  manufactures  of  the  country.  In  many 
cases  it  was  impossible  to  distinguish  between 
the  works  exported  from  the  North  and  those 
produced  in  the  South,  so  great  was  the  skill 
with  which  Flemish  artisans  assimilated  Italian 
processes.  It  was,  however,  of  course  im- 
possible for  a  land  owning  so  many  artists 
of  talent — indeed  of  genius,  for  Rubens  was 
then  flourishing — to  be  content  with  plagia- 
90 


Plate  XXIX 


EBONY  CHEST.    Beginning  of  XVII  Century.    Cluny  Museum 


FOREIGN  INFLUENCE 

risms  of  foreign  designs  for  furniture.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  find  in  cabinets  executed 
under  the  influence  of  such  men  as  De 
Vriendt,  surnamed  Floris,  the  Francks,  the 
Breughels,  and  De  Vos  not  only  mosaics  in 
the  Florentine  style,  and  decorations  copied 
from  Correggio's  designs,  but  paintings  by 
native  artists,  marquetry,  in  which  the  tulip, 
cultivated  with  such  loving  care  in  the  North, 
is  the  prevailing  motive,  and  lastly,  represen- 
tations engraved  in  ebony  of  contemporaries 
of  the  craftsmen. 

After  this  rapid  review  of  the  extraordi- 
narily prolific  foreign  output,  and  the  raids 
made  on  France  by  it  from  every  side,  the 
danger  of  being  swamped  run  by  French 
individuality  will  readily  be  understood. 
Those,  indeed,  whose  talent  or  preponderating 
influence  ought  to  have  made  them  the  right 
persons  to  defend  it  were  the  first  un- 
consciously to  betray  it.  Martellange  of 
Lyons,  endowed  alike  with  talent  and  with 
wealth,  devoted  all  his  energies,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  disseminating  yet  more  widely 
depraved  Italian  taste.  Henri  IV.  was,  it 
is  true,  inspired  with  the  noble  and  fitting 
ambition  of  protecting  art  at  his  own  Court, 
for,  as  he  wrote  in  1608,  **  amongst  the  in- 
finite blessings  resulting  from  peace,  that  of 
the  cultivation    of   the  arts,   which  always 

91 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

flourish  through  its  influence,  is  by  no  means 
the  least."  But  who  was  the  first  to  whom 
he  offered  hospitality  ?  A  Fleming,  Laurent 
Stabre.  Louis  XI IL  inherited  the  ideas  and 
tastes  of  his  father.  During  his  reign  a  kind 
of  Babel  prevailed  in  the  long  galerie  of  the 
Louvre,  in  which  were  to  be  heard  all  the 
dialects  of  Europe,  and  where  French  artists 
were  permeated  with  foreign  influence. 
Richelieu,  keen-sighted  though  he  generally 
was,  shared  the  ideas  of  his  sovereign, 
and  had  a  mosaic  table  made  at  Florence, 
which  is  now  in  the  Louvre  Museum,  was 
valued  by  La  Fontaine  at  the  exaggerated 
price  of  nine  hundred  thousand  livres,  and  in 
which  the  revolutionary  delegate  Guitton- 
Morvaux  pretended  in  1794  that  he  recognised 
the  precious  stones  filched  from  the  shrines 
of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Denis.  Under  Richelieu, 
and,  subsequently,  under  Mazarin,  the  palace 
was  filled  with  Italian  productions.  The  latter 
installed  in  it  the  Dutch  ebenist  Pieter  Golle, 
or  Goller,  and  got  the  King  to  take  into  his 
service  his  own  fellow  countrymen  Domenico 
Gucci,  Filippo  Gaffieri,  Francesco  Bordoni, 
Fernando  and  Horatio  Migliorini,  Luigi 
Giacetti,  Branchi,  and  others. 

It  really  seemed  at  this  moment  as  if  the 
fire  of  French  art,  lit  perhaps  a  thousand 
years  before,  were  about  to  be  extinguished  a 
92 


ABRAHAM  BOSSE 

second  time  by  the  Latin  genius  !  But  this 
was  not  to  be.  National  taste  survived ; 
slowly  but  rationally  it  was  re-evolved,  modi- 
fying without  any  sudden  or  inharmonious 
transitions  the  fashions  of  ancestral  times, 
and  at  the  same  time  selecting  and  assimi- 
lating the  best  of  the  novel  ideas  presented  to 
it.  It  is  modest,  but  irresistible,  for  it  has 
the  majority  on  its  side.  It  reflects  the  feel- 
ings of  millions  of  humble  souls,  bound  by 
family  ties,  who  honour  the  memory  of  their 
fathers,  and  who,  owning  few  things  of  value, 
give  all  the  more  affection  to  their  unpretend- 
ing furniture. 

A  certain  man  who  lived  at  this  time  con- 
stituted himself  the  recorder  of  the  fashions 
that  prevailed  in  French  homes,  and  that  in  a 
style  most  interesting  from  our  point  of  view, 
for  he  chose  engraving  instead  of  writing  as 
his  medium  of  expression.  His  name  was 
Abraham  Bosse ;  he  was  the  son  of  a  merchant 
of  Tours,  and  he  was  a  member  of  the  Calvinist 
sect,  practising  his  religion,  however,  without 
prudery,  if  we  may  judge  him  by  the  Gallic 
humour  characterising  his  engravings  in  the 
style  of  Jacques  Callot  and  his  pupil  Jean  de 
Saint-Igny.  The  earliest  of  these  engravings 
were  published  in  1622,  and  were  succeeded 
during  some  forty  years  by  numerous  series, 
under  various  titles,  such  as  the  **Jardin  de  la 

93 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

noblesse  fran^aise/'  *'  Figures  au  naturel  tant 
des  vStements  que  des  postures  des  gardes 
frangaises  du  Roi  tr6s  Chrdtien/'  ''  Mariage 
k  la  Ville,"  '*  Mariage  k  la  Campagne," 
**  L'enfant  prodigue/*  '*  h^zart  et  le  mauvais 
riche/'  *'Les  vi6rges  sages  et  les  vi^rges 
folles/'  **  Cris  de  Paris,  Metiers/'  *'  Galeries 
du  Palais,"  '^  GEuvres  de  Charity,"  &c. 
Even  the  plates  illustrating  Biblical  scenes 
are  little  pictures  of  life  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  taken  direct  from  nature  with 
a  truthfulness  and  simplicity  recalling  the 
work  of  the  Dutchmen  Vermeer,  Terborch, 
or  Van  Ostade.  The  men  are  seen  going 
about  in  doublets,  with  shoulder  knots  and 
full  trunk  hose,  the  women  in  very  wide 
petticoats  and  low  bodices,  even  in  the  gardens 
adorned  with  summer-houses,  rock -work 
grottoes,  and  trees  trimmed  into  pyramids, 
as  well  as  in  rooms  betraying  more  or  less 
clearly  a  certain  reminiscence  of  the  Henri  H. 
style.  Although  we  see  that  this  sort  of 
decoration  became  more  complicated  in  those 
specimens  of  aristocratic  furniture — now 
preserved  in  museums — which  were  made 
under  Louis  XIIL,  it  was,  on  the  contrary, 
greatly  simplified  by  the  taste  of  the 
bourgeoisie.  The  ever-increasing  rarity  of 
those  good  carvers  on  wood  who  had  been 
supplanted  by  workers  in  mosaic  and  mar- 

94 


ABRAHAM  BOSSE 

quetry  in  the  Italian  manner  made  it  the 
more  necessary,  if  the  old  forms  were  not 
to  be  given  up,  to  have  recourse  to  turners. 
The  complicated  system  of  columns  uphold- 
ing the  square  tables  of  Du  Cerceau  were 
replaced  by  spiral  supports.  It  was  much 
the  same  with  ordinary  chairs  and  arm- 
chairs, the  chisel  was  only  used  on  the  top 
and  posts  of  the  dossier  and  on  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  rails,  sometimes  not  even  on 
them.  Now  for  the  first  time  the  seat  is  to 
a  certain  extent  comfortable,  the  beautiful 
carvings  in  relief  that  made  it  impossible  to 
rest  the  shoulders  have  disappeared,  as  have 
also  the  movable  cushions,  which  were  quite 
insufficient  to  mitigate  the  hardness  of  the 
wood.  Henceforth  the  seats  are  covered 
with  cane,  cloth,  or  stuffed  leather,  firmly 
fastened  on  to  the  structure.  Moreover,  the 
whole  room  is  draped  and  the  new  woodwork 
disguised,  as  it  has  no  longer  a  decorative 
object,  with  curtains  and  carpets.  Some  of 
Bosse's  engravings  represent  comfortable 
rooms  in  which  the  bed  and  the  table  appear 
merely  as  two  irregular  cubes,  so  closely  are 
they  covered  over  down  to  the  very  ground. 
The  bed  from  the  Chdteau  of  Effiat  in  the 
Cluny  Museum  gives  something  of  the  im- 
pression of  a  miniature  apartment  within  a 
room.    This  fancy  led  to  the  evolution  of  the 

95 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

alcove,  a  regular  wardrobe-like  room,  the  only 
open  side  of  which  was  sometimes  provided 
with  actual  doors,  traces  of  which  remain  in 
most  French  houses  that  are  more  than  a 
hundred  years  old.  It  was  in  such  alcoves 
that,  in  accordance  with  the  most  singular 
of  all  the  strange  fashions  we  have  so  far 
passed  in  review,  ladies — imitating  the  so- 
called  Prdcieuses  of  the  H6tel  Rambouillet 
— used  to  hold  receptions  as  well  as  to  sleep. 
Lying  full  length  outside,  or  even  sometimes 
inside,  the  bed  in  elegant  deshabille,  and  with 
the  light  filtering  through  skilfully  adjusted 
curtains,  they  would  make  their  friends  sit 
down  in  the  ruelle,  or  narrow  passage  between 
the  bed  and  the  wall.  This  fashion  pre- 
vailed throughout  the  whole  of  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV. 

Furniture,  as  we  have  seen,  became  greatly 
simplified  amongst  the  middle  classes,  and 
the  loss  so  far  as  art  was  concerned  was  made 
up  for  by  increase  of  comfort.  It  appears  to 
us  quite  easy  to  account  for  this  double 
evolution,  which  reached  its  fullest  develop- 
ment in  the  second  quarter  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  influ- 
ence of  Calvinism  had  something  to  do  with 
it ;  the  formality  and  coldness  of  domestic 
decoration  in  the  reign  of  Henri  IV.  suc- 
ceeded too  rapidly  the  brilliant  and  affected 

96 


INFLUENCE  OF  PROTESTANTISM 

style  that  prevailed  under  his  predecessor,  for 
it  to  be  possible  to  fail  to  recognise  how 
important  was  the  influence  over  popular 
customs  of  the  triumph  of  a  prince  who 
remained  a  Huguenot  behind  the  Catholicism 
he  assumed,  because  *'  a  kingdom  is  worth 
more  than  a  Mass/*  The  Bearnais  monarch 
was  popular,  he  was  beloved,  and  as  a  result  he 
was  imitated.  Now,  like  his  comrades  in  the 
religious  wars,  he  carried  contempt  for  show 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  take  a  positive  pride 
in  exaggerated  simplicity.  The  lower  classes 
liked  to  recall  the  fact  that  on  his  entry  into 
Paris  the  sovereign  only  had  five  pocket- 
handkerchiefs  and  a  dozen  shirts  in  very  bad 
condition,  and  that  his  best  costume  consisted 
of  a  doublet  of  white  satin,  a  black  cloak,  and  a 
plumed  hat  which  he  wore  both  on  the  occasion 
of  his  solemn  recantation  of  Protestanism,  as 
well  as  for  the  ceremony  of  coronation,  and, 
indeed,  a  hundred  other  familiar  anecdotes, 
such  as  that  of  his  having  received  the 
Spanish  Ambassador  on  all  fours  with  his 
children  riding  on  his  back.  All  this  is  very 
much  in  the  reformist  spirit  of  the  time,  and 
explains  the  taste  for  the  severe  style  of 
Protestant  Holland,  and  also  the  fact  that 
Henri  IV.'s  first  act  as  an  art  patron  was  to 
send  his  best  artisans  to  the  Dutch  school. 
The  very  evident  resemblance  in  interior 
decoration  in  the  two  countries,  Holland  and 

N  97 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

France,  which  can  easily  be  illustrated  by 
a  comparison  between  the  work  of  Gerard 
Terborch  and  Abraham  Bosse,  is  the  result, 
it  appears  to  us,  of  the  impulse  given  by  a 
king  whom  all  his  subjects  took  for  their 
example. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  fashion  of  entirely 
covering  furniture  with  drapery  was   but  a 
revival  and  development  of  an  Italian  custom 
of  the  fifteenth  century.     This  is  going  very 
far  afield  to  seek  an  explanation,  and  needlessly 
to  exaggerate  the  artistic  domination  of  Italy, 
that  was  already  great  enough.     She  may  be 
credited  with  the  first  use  of  bed  draperies, 
at  the  same  time  as  the  introduction,  during 
the  Renaissance,  of  bedsteads  with  canopies 
upheld  by  columns,  but  certainly  not   with 
that    of    table-covers,    which,   as    we    have 
already     pointed     out     elsewhere,    were    a 
natural  contrivance  for  hiding  an  economy 
the   owners   did  not  wish  to  betray,  which 
had    led    to    their   employment  of   turners 
instead   of   carvers   in   wood.      There  were 
now  quantities    of   costly   materials    to   be 
had   in   France,  and  there  is   no   cause   for 
surprise  at  the  fact  that  the  middle  classes 
loved  to  show  off  pieces  of  stuff  such  as  but 
recently  the  nobility  alone  were  privileged  to 
use.     The  cultivation   of    the   mulberry-tree 
having  been  successful  in  the  South,  Lyons 
98 


FOREIGN  INFLUENCE 

had  begun  to  manufacture  silk  which  rivalled 
even  that  of  Florence  and  Genoa,  Tours 
became  celebrated  for  her  coarse  taffetas, 
workmen  invited  to  come  over  from  Ana- 
tolia and  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago 
produced  in  Paris  itself  embroideries  in  the 
Oriental  style,  and  numerous  artisans  work- 
ing in  the  Louvre  and  in  the  Rue  de  la 
Tixerandrie  decorated  textile  fabrics  with  de- 
signs founded  on  exotic  plants  which  they 
copied  in  the  Royal  gardens  recently  laid 
out  for  that  very  purpose,  and  which  were 
later  to  develop  into  the  extensive  Jardin  des 
Plantes. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Italians  are  to  be 
credited  with  the  introduction  into  quite 
humble  rooms  of  certain  minor  decorative 
features  which  add  greatly  to  their  charm  and 
comfort,  such  as  crystal  or  glass  chandeliers, 
sconces  in  the  shape  of  an  arm  fixed  on  to  the 
wall,  the  closed  fist  holding  a  wax  candle,  and 
above  all  the  great  mirrors  framed  in  carved 
and  gilded  wood  or  in  undecorated  ebony, 
varied  by  the  fertile  imagination  of  the 
French  with  appliqud  work  cut  out  and 
chased  in  copper  or  silver.  This  mirror  was 
the  natural  supplement  of  the  cabinet,  or  of 
the  bureau  founded  on  it — bureau  being  the 
old  name  used  in  mediaeval  times  for  the 
counter  covered  with  a  coarse  brownish  stuff 

99 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

called  drap  de  bure,"^  and  later  given  to  a 
novelty  introduced  towards  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIII.  It  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  describe  the  well-known  shape  of  this 
familiar  little  piece  of  furniture.  It  is  a  chest 
set  on  a  table,  not  so  deep  as  the  top  of  the 
latter,  and  pushed  back  a  little  so  as  to  afford 
a  rest  for  the  hand  of  a  writer  seated  at  it. 
About  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
it  became  customary  to  call  this  variety  of  the 
cabinet  by  the  name  of  commode,  the  lower 
part  of  which  consisted  of  nothing  more  than 
a  table  provided  with  drawers,  distinguished 
at  the  same  period  as  the  bas  darmoire,  or 
the  lower  armoire.  It  is  as  well  to  make  a 
point  of  giving  these  names,  which  we  shall 
have  to  use  constantly  in  dealing  with  suc- 
ceeding reigns. 

*  The  nearest  English  equivalent  to  drap  de  hure  is 
drugget. — Trans. 


100 


THE  SEVENTH  CHAPTER 

THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 


N  the  history  of  art  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.  does  not  begin  in 
the  year  1643,  when  he  actually 
ascended  the  throne  at  the  age  of 
five  years,  but  at  the  foundation 
in  1663  of  the  so-called  Manufacture  Royale 
des  Meubles  de  la  Couronne,  better  known 
under  the  name  of  the  Gobelins,  which  pre- 
serves the  memory  of  the  former  possessor  of 
the  Parisian  mansion  in  which  it  was  installed 
four  years  later.  This  institution,  founded 
by  the  great  minister  Colbert,  the  pupil  and 
successor  of  Mazarin,  was  really  the  develop- 
ment of  an  idea  conceived  by  Henri  IV.  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  of  collecting  in 
the  Louvre  artisans  and  experts  in  different 
handicrafts,  to  encourage  art  all  over  the 
country  and  to  give  a  healthy  impulse  to  the 
manufacture  of  all  manner  of  beautiful  work, 
the  sale  of  which  might  augment  the  wealth 
of  the  country.  It  was,  in  fact,  intended  to 
promote  the  minor  arts,  such  as  the  making 
of  tapestry  and  jewellery,  and  those  in  which 
the  materials  were  wood,  metals,  and  precious 
stones  of  every  variety,  just  as  the  Academy 

lOI 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

of  Painting  and  Sculpture,  which  had  received 
its  letters  patent  in  1655,  encouraged  the 
more  important  branches  of  art-production. 
The  two  establishments  soon  became  great 
art  centres,  thanks  to  the  Royal  protection, 
which  raised  their  members  above  all  the 
petty  rules  of  corporations  and  kept  them 
supplied  with  an  unbroken  succession  of 
commissions,  lavishing  on  them  larger  sums 
of  money  than  any  sovereign  had  ever  before 
spent  on  luxuries.  For  the  twenty  years 
during  which  the  prosperity  of  the  Grand 
Roi  lasted,  the  Mat  of  these  two  establish- 
ments was  so  great  throughout  the  whole  of 
Europe  as  to  eclipse  all  other  schools  or  to 
convert  them  into  mere  reflections  of  them- 
selves. It  is  from  this  moment  that  the 
world-wide  supremacy  of  French  art  really 
dates,  and  if  at  the  present  day  it  has  been 
compelled  to  give  way  before  the  ever-in- 
creasing strength  of  its  adversaries,  it  is 
because  the  democratic  principles  now  ap- 
plied to  art  are  in  direct  contravention  to 
those  of  Colbert  s  conception.  That  great 
man  recognised  with  remarkable  acuteness 
that  the  French  character,  with  its  rare 
aesthetic  gifts,  needed,  if  it  were  to  reach  its 
highest  development,  a  lofty  ideal  on  which 
to  concentrate  its  efforts  and  a  liberality 
that  gave  full  play  to  its  imagination.  It 
102 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

was  thus  that  the  wonderful  artists  of  the 
Middle  Ages  may  be  said  to  have  been  the 
outcome  of  the  religious  enthusiasm  of  their 
time,  and  to  have  turned  to  account  the  inex- 
haustible treasures  of  the  Church.  The  great 
minister  of  the  seventeenth  century  in  his 
turn  set  before  his  contemporaries  the  ambi- 
tion to  emulate  the  splendour  of  the  sovereign 
who  said  Ldtat  c'est  tnoi,  and  lavished  upon 
them  half  the  revenues  of  the  kingdom  in  a 
constant  stream.  '*Sire,"  he  wrote  to  Louis 
XIV.,  **  a  useless  meal  costing  three  thousand 
livres  afflicts  on  me  incredible  suffering,  for  I 
consider  it  essential  to  refrain  from  all  un- 
necessary expense  so  as  to  have  millions  to 
lavish  whenever  it  is  a  question  of  promoting 
your  glory  and  that  of  France."  He  therefore 
grudged  nothing  to  the  artists  of  the  Academy, 
still  less  to  the  army  of  men  of  talent 
collected  in  the  Gobelins  manufactory  or  who 
still  lived  in  rooms  in  the  Grand  Gallery  of 
the  Louvre.  The  double  result  of  this  wise 
prodigality  was  that  the  artistic  dclat  of  the 
reign  remains  to  this  day  its  highest  title  to 
glory,  and  that  money  flowed  in  in  immense 
quantities  from  without,  to  enrich  what  was 
then  called  the  '*  magnificent "  nation  which 
supplied  all  civilised  races  with  beautiful 
things. 

Louis  XIV.  was  fortunate  in  that  Colbert 

103 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

was  in  power  from  the  very  beginning  of  his 
reign,  for  that  minister  was  the  man  best  fitted 
to  assure  his  greatness ;  whilst  Colbert  himself 
was  no  less  happy  in  having  placed  almost  at 
once  at  his  disposal  a  talented,  industrious, 
and  prolific  artist,  gifted  in  the  highest  degree 
with  the  genius  for  organisation  necessary 
to  carry  out  the  lavish  designs  of  his  master, 
as  well  as  to  develop  the  industrial  system 
he  himself  had  in  view.  This  was  Le 
Brun,  whom  Colbert  had  seen  at  work  in  the 
celebrated  Chateau  of  Vaux,  the  all  too  royal 
luxury  of  which  had  aroused  the  jealousy  of 
the  sovereign,  and  caused  the  fall  of  its  owner, 
Fouquet,  then  Minister  of  Finance.  Colbert 
knew  that  the  painter,  who  was  already  very 
well  known,  had  contended  zealously  for  the 
privileges  of  the  Academy,  and  that  he  had 
had  considerable  practice  in  the  administra- 
tion of  affairs,  not  only  at  Vaux,  but  also  as 
director  of  the  tapestry  manufactory  that  the 
minister  had  founded  at  Maincy.  In  1660 
Le  Brun  received  the  commission  to  paint  for 
Fontainebleau  the  picture  known  as  the 
'*  Clemency  of  Alexander"  ;  in  1662  he  was 
appointed  Chief  Court  Painter  to  Louis  XIV., 
immediately  after  which  he  designed  and 
partly  executed  the  decorations  of  the  Apollo 
Gallery,  receiving  a  little  later  the  appoint- 
ment of  Director  of  the  new  Manufacture 
Royale  des  Meubles  de  la  Couronne. 
104 


Plate  XXX 


CHEST  OF  DRAWERS  of  Louis  XIV  at  Versailles  ;  attributed 
to  Charles  Boulle.     Bibliotheque  Mazarin 

Plate  XXXI 


CHEST.    Epoch  Louis  XIV.     Palace  of  Versailles 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

The  influence  exercised  by  Le  Brun  over 
the  art  of  his  time,  thanks  to  the  power  given 
him  by  the  constant  favour  of  Colbert  and 
of  Louis  XIV.,  was  without  doubt  immense. 
Certain  critics,  especially  at  the  present  time 
when  naturalism  is  very  much  in  vogue, 
choose  to  look  only  on  the  pernicious  side  of 
the  sort  of  academic  tyranny  which  was  the 
result  of  the  artist's  inordinate  admiration  for 
classic  style  after  the  Bolognese  manner. 
This  is,  however,  unjust,  for  Le  Brun  did  but 
share  the  universal  convictions  of  a  period 
still  impregnated  with  the  results  of  two 
centuries  of  exclusive  infatuation  for  Italian 
work ;  and,  without  having  any  special 
predilection  either  for  his  composition  or 
his  colouring,  we  know  how  to  recognise 
that  he  had  the  really  sterling  merit  of  giving 
to  the  works  he  issued  from  the  Gobelins 
manufactory,  in  spite  of  their  want  of 
grace,  a  decided  grandeur  and  dignity  of 
style,  quite  unlike  the  involved  and  incon- 
gruous confusion  of  Italianism,  or  the  some- 
what heavy  simplicity  borrowed  by  second-rate 
designers  from  the  North.  This  is,  perhaps 
a  less  obvious  though  more  natural  cause  than 
is  generally  supposed  for  those  French  imi- 
tations of  Roman  models,  which  were  first 
generally  disseminated  by  the  Jesuit  Martel- 
lange,   under    Henri   IV.     But    the  artistic 

o  105 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

breadth  of  view  of  a  Le  Brun  was  needed  to 
give  to  the  style  a  genuine  beauty  and  thus 
enable  it  to  triumph  over  foreign  rivalry. 
Those  who  are  disposed  to  dispute  this  have 
but  to  run  through  the  incredibly  long 
lists  of  works  for  which  he  himself  made 
the  designs  or  which  he  executed  entirely. 
Without  enumerating  them  here  we  may 
mention  that  between  1663  and  1690  he 
drew  the  cartoons  after  which  were  woven 
nineteen  hangings,  that  is  to  say,  8400  ells  of 
tapestry,  and  that  at  the  same  time  he  was 
executing  or  directing  the  decorations  at 
Versailles,  Saint-Germain  and  Marly,  making 
designs  for  the  royal  plate,  architectural  plans, 
such  as  those  for  the  church  of  Saint  Eus- 
tache,  the  Gates  of  Paris,  the  Fountains  of 
Versailles,  making  suggestions  for  the  decora- 
tion of  ships,  and  collaborating  with  numerous 
sculptors  in  the  erection  of  various  monuments. 
All  this  personal  work  was  got  through  in 
addition  to  the  daily  official  duties  of  the 
superintendent  of  the  manufactory,  in  which 
lived  not  only  a  whole  population  of  artists 
and  workmen,  but  also  sixty  poor  children 
apprenticed  to  the  trade  by  the  Treasury. 

It  is  greatly  to  the  credit  of  Le  Brun  that 
he  knew  how  to  gather  about  him  to  aid  him 
in  carrying  out  the  vast  commissions  of  Louis 
XIV.  all  the  most  eminent  artists  of  the 
106 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

day ;  in  fact  we  may  almost  say  that  he  was 
instrumental  in  their  rise,  and  when  we  see 
the  list  of  their  names  it  is  impossible  to  help 
admiring  the  liberal-mindedness  of  this  great 
man  and  his  skill  in  associating  with  each 
other  men  of  the  most  varied  gifts,  and  of 
leading  them  by  the  force  of  his  own  example 
to  collaborate  in  works  of  a  most  diverse 
character.  Unfortunately,  the  artists  of  the 
present  day  fail  to  emulate  them,  and  the 
thorough  mediocrity  that  has  for  a  long  time 
characterised  industrial  art,  especially  the 
making  of  furniture,  is  only  too  easily  ex- 
plained by  the  ridiculous  pride  which  leads 
artists  to  think  it  degrading  to  devote  them- 
selves to  any  work  but  that  of  making  pictures 
and  statues  or  of  adorning  the  facades  of 
houses.  At  the  Gobelins  manufactory,  Le 
Brun  induced  the  painters  Van  der  Meulen, 
Monnoyer,  Yvart,  the  two  Boullognes,  Noel 
and  Antoine  Coypel,  with  the  sculptors 
Coysevox,  Anguier,  Tuby  and  Caffieri,  and  the 
engravers  Le  Clerc,  Audran  and  Rousselet, 
to  work  side  by  side  with  the  ebenists  Gucci, 
Pierre  Poitou,  the  jewellers  Alexis  Loir, 
Claude  de  Villers  and  Dutel,  the  lapidaries 
Giacetti,  Branchi,  Horatio  and  Ferdinando 
Migliorini,  and  the  tapestry-makers  Jans  and 
his  son.  These  are  but  a  few  amongst  the 
many  employees  of  the  manufactory,  and  to 

107 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

them  must  be  added  the  artists  who  lodged 
in  the  Louvre  and  were  under  the  control  of 
the  chief  superintendent,  such  as  the  jeweller 
Bellin,  the  ebenist  Charles  Andrd  Boulle,  and 
the  engraver  Varin,  whilst  beyond  his  direct 
authority,  though  within  the  sphere  of 
his  activity,  were  yet  other  workers,  men  of 
special  interest  in  connection  with  our  subject, 
whom  we  must  not  neglect  to  notice,  such  as 
Marot,  Le  Pautre  and  Bdrain. 

To  avoid  having  to  recur  to  them  again, 
we  will  speak  here  of  those  artists  who,  even 
when  associated  with  Le  Brun,  showed  a 
certain  originality  of  design.  The  architect 
and  engraver  Jean  Marot,  who  died  in  1679, 
and  his  son  Daniel,  who  died  about  171 2, 
published  a  great  number  of  engravings, 
representing  everything  connected  with  the 
furnishing  of  a  house  and  the  decoration  of 
its  exterior;  they  also  aided  greatly  in  the  dif- 
fusion of  the  style  named  after  Louis  XIV. 
not  only  in  France  but  elsewhere,  especially 
when  Daniel  Marot,  who  after  the  issue 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  in  danger  of 
arrest  for  his  Huguenot  opinions,  went  to 
Holland,  where  he  became  architect  to  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  The  designs  of  Jean  le 
Pautre,  who  died  in  1682,  and  of  his  brother 
Antoine,  who  died  in  1691,  inspired  many 
wood-carvers  who  still  adhered  to  some  extent 
108 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

to  the  Louis  XIII.  style  with  its  ornate 
Italianism.  The  former  issued  engravings 
of  some  two  thousand  designs,  which  he 
probably  also  executed  himself,  for,  the  son  of 
an  artisan,  he  had  begun  life  as  a  cabinet-maker. 
To  him  and  to  his  brother,  who  was  architect 
to  the  King,  are  attributed,  amongst  other 
works,  certain  consoles  in  the  Palace  of 
Versailles,  upholding  on  strong  and  dignified 
supports  slabs  of  fine  marble.  Jean  B^rain, 
who  in  1674  was  appointed  Dessinateur 
de  la  Chambre  et  du  Cabinet  du  Roi,*  also 
published  a  great  number  of  engravings  of 
decorative  motives,  with  the  aid  of  his  brother 
Claude,  who  was  an  engraver  by  profession. 
Although  his  talent  was  really  akin  to  that  of 
Le  Brun,  whose  pupil  he  is  even  supposed  to 
have  been,  his  work  is  strangely  suggestive  of 
the  traditions  of  Du  Cerceau — a  fact  which  has 
led  some  critics  to  regret  that  Bdrain  was  not 
chosen  rather  than  the  painter  of  the  Gallery 
of  Apollo  to  direct  the  costly  works  com- 
missioned by  the  royal  patron,  for  his  taste, 
more  essentially  French  as  it  was,  would 
have  been  very  effective  in  them.  In  a 
comparison  of  their  aesthetic  qualities  the 
preference  might  be  given  to  Bdrain,  but 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  to  carry  out 

*  It  was  the  duty  of  the  holder  of  this  office  to  design 
the  scenery  and  costumes  for  Court  festivities. — ^Trans. 

109 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

the  work  accomplished  at  the  Gobelins  manu- 
factory a  great  administrator  was  needed  as 
well  as  a  great  artist.  There  is  nothing  to 
show  that  the  Dessinateur  du  Roi  combined 
these  qualities,  so  rarely  found  together,  in 
anything  like  the  same  degree  as  Le  Brun. 

We  might  add  many  names  to  this  list  of  the 
masterswho  followed  the pathso  clearly  marked 
out  by  the  director  of  the  royal  manufactory, 
a  path  which  led,  as  has  been  well  said  by  an 
old  chronicler,  *'  to  the  absorption  into  French 
taste  of  a  long  accumulation  of  foreign  lessons." 
To  do  so  would,  however,  be  to  specialise  too 
much  for  a  general  history  such  as  this.  Our 
task  is  to  deal  with  the  essential  characteristics 
of  the  Louis  XIV.  style — that  is  to  say,  of  the 
work  of  the  collaborators  of  Le  Brun. 

As  may  have  been  noticed  in  the  list  just 
given  of  the  chief  artists  who  worked  in  the 
Gobelins  manufactory,  Italian  names  alternate 
with  French.  Indeed,  under  Le  Brun's  direc- 
tion foreigners  were  never  excluded,  and 
these  foreigners  were  all  naturalised,  most 
of  them  having  been  attracted  to  France  by 
Mazarin.  It  must,  moreover,  be  remembered 
that  in  spite  of  the  hatred  of  the  people  for  the 
nationality  of  this  clever  minister,  whom  they 
chose  to  look  upon  as  a  rogue,  the  taste  for 
Italian  imports  did  not  decline  until  much 
later.  To  prove  this  it  is  only  necessary  to 
no 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

glance  over  the  titles  that  French  designers 
gave  to  their  inventions,  with  a  view  to 
recommending  them  to  the  public,  and  to 
which  are  generally  added  the  significant 
words,  a  lltaliemie  or  a  la  Romaine, 

The  most  highly  thought  of  amongst  the 
Italians  who  worked  for  the  King  were 
Domenico  Cucci  and  Filippo  Caffieri ;  and 
although  the  latter  alone  is  now  famous,  they 
seem  to  have  been  looked  upon  as  equals  by 
their  contemporaries,  as  is  shown  by  four 
lines  of  bad  poetry,  written  by  the  Abbd  de 
Marolles : 

"  Pour  la  sculpture  en  bois,  la  sont  venus  de  Rome 
D'entre  les  bons  sculpteurs,  Philippe  Caffieri, 
Et  du  mesme  pays  Dominique  Cucci, 
Que  partout  en  leur  art,  justement  on  renomme." 

The  royal  accounts  prove  that  the  com- 
missions given  to  Cucci  were  extremely 
numerous,  although  he  is  only  alluded  to 
as  ''ebenisf'or  '*  founder."  Unfortunately, 
nothing  now  remains  but  descriptions  of  the 
important  pieces  of  furniture  produced  by 
him,  from  which  we  gather  that  he  had  not 
given  up  the  decorative  methods  of  his  native 
country.  Noteworthy  examples  are  the  two 
large  cabinets  intended  for  the  Gallery  of 
Apollo,  famous  at  the  time  of  their  production 
under  the  names  of  the  Temples  of  Glory  and 
Virtue,  one  of  which  was  surmounted  by  a 

III 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

figure  of  Louis  XIV.  as  Apollo,  leading  four 
horses,  and  the  other  by  a  figure  of  Queen 
Maria  Theresa  of  Austria  as  Diana,  leading 
four  stags.  All  that  now  remains  of  these 
sumptuous  cabinets,  which  appear  to  have  cost 
the  treasury  the  enormous  sum  for  that  time 
of  30,500  livres,  is  three  miniatures  by 
Werner,  which  formed  part  of  their  decora- 
tion, and  are  now  in  the  Louvre  Museum.  The 
actual  cabinets  were  given  to  the  naturalist 
Buffon  for  his  museum  in  1747,  evidently 
because  the  mosaics  let  into  them  were  con- 
sidered by  contemporary  opinion  to  be  in- 
teresting only  from  the  mineralogist's  point 
of  view.  Cucci  produced  other  cabinets  that 
seem  to.  have  been  no  less  costly  and  compli- 
cated, called  of  ^*  War,"  of  ''  Peace,"  of  ''  The 
Sun,"  and  of  *'  The  Kings."  The  descriptions 
in  the  Inventory  show  how  redundant  was  the 
ornamentation  with  its  mythological  motives 
indulged  in  by  the  Italian  ebenist,  who  in 
this  respect  rivalled  even  Golle,  once  the 
favourite  of  Mazarin.  It  would  be  unjust  to 
leave  this  now  too  much  neglected  artist, 
without  mentioning  that  his  work  was  not 
limited  to  the  ornate  compositions  we  have 
enumerated.  The  *  *  Comptes  des  Batiments  du 
Roi "  prove  that  he  did  not  disdain  to  employ 
his  talent  in  making  locks  and  window-bolts 
for  the  palaces,  in  which  the  Grand  Monarque 
112 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

insisted  on  having  the  very  smallest  details 
magnificent ;  and  in  addition  to  these,  lists 
are  given  of  small  items  sent  out  from  his 
foundry  for  more  worthy  usage,  such  as 
lintels  of  doors,  frames  for  looking-glasses, 
balustrades,  pedestals,  borders  for  marble 
basins,  &c. 

Filippo  Caffieri  came  to  France  towards 
the  close  of  Mazarin's  life,  and  was  more  of  a 
wood-carver  than  a  founder  ;  he  married, 
in  1665,  a  cousin  -  german  of  Le  Brun, 
and  became  the  father  of  eleven  children, 
three  of  whom  followed  his  profession.  His 
chief  occupation  was  to  make  furniture  and 
picture-frames  for  the  royal  palaces.  A  few 
extracts  from  the  "  Comptes  des  Batiments  " 
will  give  an  idea  of  his  ordinary  avocations ; 
in  1665  he  received  267  livres  for  three 
arm-chairs  carved  in  the  antique  style  (that  is 
to  say,  in  the  Henri  IV.  or  Louis  XIII.  style) 
and  twelve  folding-seats  of  a  similar  kind  ;  in 
1666  he  was  paid  72  livres  for  a  border  eight 
feet  long  by  six  broad,  34  livres  for  a  pedestal, 
741  for  ten  picture-frames  of  carved  wood 
intended  for  the  cabinet  du  Roi,  400  for 
certain  other  frames,  100  for  work  for  the 
petits  appartements  du  Roi,  and  400  for  the 
carvings  of  the  cornice  of  the  Chapel  of 
Versailles.  As  collaborators  at  the  Gobelins 
manufactory  he  had  his  fellow  countryman 

p  113 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

Tuby,  the  sculptor  Lespagnandel,  and  some 
gilders  such  as  Paul  Gougeon  de  la  Baron- 
ni^re.  The  chief  interest  of  his  work  from 
our  point  of  view,  justifying  the  space  we  have 
given  to  him,  is  not  so  much  in  his  capacity 
as  Sculpteur  Ordinaire  des  Meubles  de  la 
Couronne  as  in  the  transition  he  marks 
between  the  Italian  style  of  which  Cucci  was 
an  obstinate  adherent  to  that  which  was 
evolved  under  the  powerful  influence  of  Le 
Brun.  No  doubt  Cafifieri  was  not  able  en- 
tirely to  throw  off  the  Southern  love  of  glitter 
which  was  in  his  blood,  for  he  overloaded  his 
work  with  gilding,  silver-plating,  and  trans- 
parent-blue appliqud  metal,  but  beneath  all 
this  unnecessary  ornament  the  lines  of  his 
designs  are  essentially  graceful,  and  of  taste 
so  truly  French  that  they  involuntarily  betray 
the  preponderating  influence  of  the  master 
chosen  by  Colbert.  Amongst  the  works  attri- 
buted to  Caffieri  still  remaining  in  French 
palaces  it  is  alone  necessary,  in  order  to  trace 
the  curious  movement  we  are  considering,  to 
study  certain  undoubtedly  authentic  examples, 
such  as  the  carved  folding-doors  of  the  great 
staircase  of  Versailles,  with  the  sun,  helmets, 
chimaerae,  laurel-leaves,  and  the  royal  mono- 
gram, no  longer  in  the  Italian  style,  though 
the  outcome  of  it,  the  style  of  Louis  XIV. 

Leaving  the  Italian  colony  of  the  Gobelins 
114 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

manufactory,  the  tendencies  of  which  are 
sufficiently  indicated  by  the  accounts  we  have 
given  of  its  two  most  gifted  members,  we  will 
pass  to  the  master  who  under  Le  Brun  typifies 
French  furniture — Andr^  Charles  Boulle. 
First  of  all,  it  is  important  to  correct  a  widely 
spread  and  long-persistent  mistake.  Not  only 
has  it  been  supposed  that  the  great  ebenist  in 
question  invented  tortoiseshell  and  brass  mar- 
queterie  as  a  decoration  for  furniture,  but  that 
he  practised  nothing  else — every  work  of  the 
kind  being  attributed  to  him.  Nothing  could 
be  more  inexact.  The  making  of  marqueterie 
in  which  copper,  tin,  tortoiseshell  and  horn 
were  used  was  practised  by  Italians  residing 
in  France  long  before  the  time  of  Boulle, 
and  he  cannot  have  been  more  than  ten  years 
old  when  in  1653  the  inventory  of  Mazarin 
was  drawn  up  in  which  are  described  several 
examples  of  the  kind.  Secondly,  as  proved  by 
a  number  of  documents  relating  to  him,  our 
ebenist  was  the  author  of  quite  as  much 
marqueterie-work  in  which  wood  was  the  only 
material  as  of  that  in  which  other  substances 
were  employed.  It  is  even  probable  that  there 
remain  a  greater  number  of  examples  of  the 
former,  though  they  are  not  attributed  to 
Boulle,  than  of  the  latter,  on  account  of  their 
greater  durability.  Lastly,  if  Boulle  was  not 
the  author  of  the  first  works  in  tortoiseshell 

IIS 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

attributed  to  him,  neither  is  he  to  be  credited 
with  all  those  produced  in  the  reign  of  Louis 
XIV.,  still  less  of  those  that  appeared  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  though  his  life  was  pro- 
longed to  1732.  He  had  four  sons,  who  con- 
tinued to  practise  his  art  for  some  years  after 
his  death,  and,  moreover,  he  also  had  many 
imitators  who  kept  up  the  fashion  of  the  use 
of  tortoiseshell  in  furniture  during  the  second 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  their  work  being 
so  good  that  it  is  impossible  to  fix  its  date 
without  a  very  careful  examination  of  the 
copper-plates.  The  great  talent  of  Father 
Boulle,  as  he  is  styled  in  the  inventory  drawn 
up  in  1720  of  the  commissions  destroyed 
when  his  workshops  were  burnt,  was  really 
displayed  chiefly  in  the  care  with  which  he 
superintended  the  construction  of  the  cabinets, 
tables,  and  armoires  that  left  his  manufactory, 
but  it  would  be  a  great  exaggeration  to  credit 
him  with  all  the  actual  execution  and  with 
all  the  designing.  His  drawings  are  now 
extremely  rare,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  he 
very  often  borrowed  from  those  of  his  more 
illustrious  contemporaries,  especially  Bdrain, 
Le  Pautre,  and  Le  Brun.  The  decorative 
figures  in  copper  that  he  wrought  and  cast  in 
a  broad  and  masterly  manner  were  designed 
by  specially  chosen  artists,  such  as  Cucci. 
As  for  ebony-  and  marqueterie-work  properly 
116 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

so  called,  neither  was  so  difificult  of  execution 
for  it  to  be  necessary  to  do  more  than  secure 
good  workmen,  such  as  Percheron,  surnamed 
Lochon,  Louis  Denis,  Sommord,  Poitou,  and 
Armand,  who  are  all  mentioned  in  the  royal 
accounts  as  having  worked  in  the  same  places 
as  the  master  himself  at  commissions  of  a 
less  important    kind.      Lastly,    it    must    be 
remembered  that  the  King  paid  high  wages 
at  the  same  rate  as  to  Boulle,  to  a  Flemish 
artist,  Alexandre  Jean  Oppenordt,  a  cabinet- 
maker in  ebony,  from  whom  he  ordered  furni- 
ture exactly  like  that  he  entrusted  to  his  chief 
inlayer — twelve  cabinets  for  medals,  for  in- 
stance, in  1683,  a  bureau  for  the  **  Cabinet 
des  Curiosit^s,"  and  some  designs  for  cham- 
branles,  as  the  borders  of  doors  and  windows 
were  called,  a  parquet  floor  of  different-coloured 
woods  in  1686  for  the  small  gallery  of  Ver- 
sailles, and  in  1688  some  works  in  marqueterie 
and  gilded  copper  for  the  Duke  of  Burgundy. 
For  all  that,  however,  the  public  has  for- 
gotten Oppenordt,  and  is  even  more  oblivious 
of  his   imitators,   attributing   everything   to 
Andrd   Charles   Boulle.     This   injustice,   for 
which   there   is  really    no   cause,    does   not 
detract  at  all  from  the  superior  merit  of  the 
last-named,  who  was  the  author  of  some  of 
the  most  costly  pieces  that  bear  witness  at 
the   present   day   to   the   artistic  culture   of 

117 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  under  the  influential 
direction  of  Le  Brun.  The  accompanying 
illustrations  will  do  more  to  prove  this  than 
any  amount  of  wearisome  description,  and 
we  will  content  ourselves  with  naming  the 
cabinets  which  chance  has  collected  in  the 
Gallery  of  Apollo  in  the  Louvre,  the  commode 
of  the  Mazarin  Library,  the  Bavarian  cabinet 
of  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch,  the  one  formerly  in 
the  Hamilton  collection,  with  many  other 
works  which  certainly  at  least  came  out  of 
Boulle's  workshops,  such  as  the  armoires 
of  Windsor  Castle,  with  the  bronze  figures  of 
Apollo  and  Daphne,  Apollo  and  Marsyas,  The 
Rape  of  Helen,  and  the  history  of  Louis  XIV., 
engraved  on  medallions  supplementing  alle- 
gorical figures  of  religion  and  wisdom,  and 
those  in  the  Wallace  Collection  with  the 
figures  of  the  four  seasons.  But  in  addition 
to  the  evidence  of  these  fine  pieces  of  furniture, 
which  have  survived  in  spite  of  their  sensitive- 
ness to  changes  of  temperature,  three  reasons 
seem  to  us  to  explain  the  appropriation  by 
Andr6  Charles  Boulle,  or  rather  by  his  name, 
of  all  the  glory  of  his  contemporaries.  To 
begin  with,  there  was  his  great  longevity,  for 
he  was  ninety  years  old  when  he  died,  whilst 
his  traditions  were  carried  on  by  his  sons, 
who  inherited  his  skill ;  secondly,  he  did  not, 
like  most  of  those  employed  by  the  Treasury, 
ii8 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

work  exclusively  for  the  King,  but  also  for 
many  wealthy  private  patrons,  such  as  the- 
financier  Samuel  Bernard,  and  Crozat,  as  well 
as  for  such  princes  as  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  the  Elector  of  Cologne, 
and  even  for  the  King  of  Siam ;  and  thirdly, 
most  convincing  reason  of  all,  he  was  the 
chief  author  of  the  furniture  of  the  rooms  of 
the  Dauphin,  which  were  for  a  long  time 
looked  upon  as  the  most  luxurious  in  the 
world,  and  to  which  Louis  XIV.  delighted  in 
taking  all  his  guests  of  importance.  The 
praises  were  sung  by  the  poets  of  the  day  of 
this 

grand  cabinet  si  riche  en  ornemens, 
Car  le  moindre  d'entre  eux  au  poids  de  Tor  ce  pfeze.* 

F^libien  in  his  "  Description  Sommaire  de 
Versailles,"  published  in  1703,  calls  up  a 
picture  which  it  is  worth  while  to  quote,  for  it 
gives  a  far  better  idea  than  could  any  words 
of  ours  of  what  was  looked  upon  as  the  ideal 
way  of  furnishing  a  royal  apartment  in  the 
time  of  Louis  XIV.  "  In  the  home  of  Mon- 
seigneur,"  he  says,  *'  in  the  two  large  rooms  of 
his  apartments  may  be  seen  an  exquisite 
collection  of  everything  that  can  be  imagined 
of  the  most  rare  and  costly,  not  only  in  the 

*  Vast  apartment  with  its  wealth  of  ornaments.    The 
very  least  of  them  worth  its  weight  in  gold. 

119 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

actual  furniture,  such  as  tables,  cabinets, 
porcelain,  chandeliers,  and  candelabra,  but 
also  masterpieces  by  the  greatest  painters, 
bronzes,  vases  of  agate,  cameos,  and  other 
works  of  art,  jewellery  made  of  the  most 
precious  stones,  and  the  finest  examples  of 
Oriental  blue.  The  larger  of  these  two  apart- 
ments now  occupies  the  place  of  the  three 
compartments  which  were  formerly  next  to  the 
bed-chamber;  Mignard  le  Romain*  painted 
the  ceiling,  introducing  the  portrait  of  Mon- 
seigneur,  and  in  the  third  compartment,  which 
has  an  entrance  into  the  lower  gallery  in 
the  centre  of  the  chdteau,  looking-glasses,  as 
already  stated,  are  let  into  the  ceiling  and 
the  walls  framed  in  gilded  borders  on  a 
ground  of  ebony  marqueterie.  The  parquet 
floor  is  also  made  of  inlaid  wood  [marquetage] 
and  enriched  with  various  ornaments,  such 
as,  amongst  others,  the  monograms  of  Mon- 
seigneur  and  Madame  la  Dauphine." 

By  way  of  contrast,  and  to  make  our  record 
complete,  we  will  now  quote,  with  all  the  dry 
minuteness  of  the  original  document,  which 
we  have  before  our  eyes,  the  inventory  made 
after  the  death  of  its  owner  of  the  furniture 
in  the  bedroom  of  a  wealthy  Parisian  citizen 
of  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.    The 

*  So  called  to  distinguish  him  from  his  brother  Pierre 
M  ignard. — Trans. 
1 20 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

citizen  we  have  chosen  is  Moli^re,  with  whose 
name  every  one  is  familiar. 

One  arnioire  in  German  wood  with  two  folding-doors, 
ornamented  with  iron  and  copper,  and  with  shelves 
in  front 52  livres 

[Here  follows  a  list  of  the  books  in  the  armoire,'] 

Item,  Twelve  cushions  of  Venetian  brocade  stuffed  with 

feathers  and  provided  with  tassels,  and  two   square 

doors  of  wood  varnished  in  the  Chinese  style.    Of  the 

twelve  cushions   [intended  to   sit  upon],  eight  have 

large  red  flowers  on  them,  and  four  green        60  livres 

Item.  Twelve  more  cushions  of  Indian  cloth,  painted,  and 

two  pure  sorte-carreaux  of  varnished  wood    .  36  livres 

Item,  Six  chairs  of  varnished  and  gilded  wood  with  their 

cushions  of  taffeta  striped  with  satteen  .         .35  livres 

Item,  A  Turkish  table-cover        .        .        .        .15  livres 

Item.  A  large  Turkey  carpet         ,         .         .         ,60  livres 

Item,  Another  Turkey  carpet       .         .        .        .30  livres 

Item,  A  green  Flemish  tapestry  curtain       .         800  livres 

Item,  A  small  piece  of  green  tapestry  .        .  30  livres 

Item,  A  curtain  of  Auvergne  tapestry  (very  old) 

60  livres 

Item,  A  wooden  table  with  a  parquet  top,  representing 

flowers  [marquetee'jj  and  two  small  round  tables  of 

similar  wood 18  livres 

Item,  A  little  table  with  pillars  of  turned  wood     30  livres 

Item.  Another  little  table  of    blackened  wood  with    a 

drawer,  a  small  curtain  of  woollen  material  from  a 

little  cabinet,  and  two  arm-chairs  covered  with  similar 

tapestry 10  livres 

Item,  A  horizontal  glass   mirror  with  a  frame  made  of 

walnut-wood 4  livres 

Item,  Two  stitched  coverlets  or  counterpanes  with  a 
satin  border  lined  with  carnation-coloured  taffeta, 
the  other  of  carnation  taffeta  with  a  flesh-coloured 
border 20  livres 

Q  121 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

Item,  A  little  couch  of  joiner's  wood  with  a  border  of 
gilded  wood  and  feet  representing  eaglet's  claws  ;  two 
mattresses,  one  covered  with  green  satin  with  a  floral 
design  ;  and  a  bolster  covered  with  similar  satin 

100  livres 

Item,  Another  couch  of  joiner's  wood  carved  and  gilded 
like  the  above,  with  two  bolsters,  two  mattresses,  and 
two  pillows  covered  with  satin       .        .         140  livres 

Item.  Two  arm-chairs  of  gilded  wood  covered  with  green 
satin 40  livres 

Item.  Two  window  curtains  of  white  taffeta  with  silk 
cords 45  livres 

Item,  A  tapestry  hanging  of  satin  with  a  green  ground 
and  borders  of  white  satin  with  gold  flowers 

70  livres 

Item.  A  door-screen  and  chimney-board  with  valances  of 
green  and  greenish  white,  finished  off  with  fringes 

12  livres 

Item.  A  couch  with  feet  representing  eaglet's  claws, 
painted  a  bronze  green,  with  a  painted  and  gilded  head- 
board [here  follows  a  detailed  description  of  the  orna- 
mentation], a  canopy  with  an  azure  blue  background, 
carved  and  gilded,  with  four  eagles  in  relief,  on  gilded 
wood,  four  knobs  shaped  like  vases,  also  of  gilded 
wood  ;  the  canopy  draped  inside  with  gold  and  green 
taffeta,  the  valances  of  the  bed  of  the  same  material, 
all  finished  off  with  gold  and  green  fringes.  A  smaller 
canopy  within  the  larger  one  of  gilded  wood,  carved 
to  represent  a  bell,  draped  outside  with  grey  taffeta, 
embroidered  with  gold  twist,  finished  off  with  gold 
silk  fringe,  and  lined  with  Avignon  taffeta.  Inside 
hangings,  of  the  same  taffeta  with  fringe  [here 
follows  a  description  of  the  brocade  curtains] 

2000  livres 

Item,  Two  small  carved  loo-tables  of  gilded  wood  with 
three  eaglet's  claws  for  feet,  painted  bronze  colour, 
top  hexagonal 80  livres 

Item.  Six  arm-chairs  with  Sphinx  figures  completely 
gilded,  and  provided  with  cushions  for  the  seat  and 

122 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

back  of  flowered  satin  with  a  violet  ground,  finished 
off  with  green  and  gold  silk  fringe  .         200  livres 

Item.  Six  alcove  curtains,  two  door  curtains,  and  nine 
valances  for  the  same,  these  valances  and  the  cover  for 
the  overmantel  of  crimson  taffeta,  and  all  finished 
off  with  fringes  and  tassels. 

Item,  Two  window  curtains  with  their  silk  cords  and 
valances  for  the  top 45  livres 

This  biographical  document  is  not  only, 
as  will  be  seen,  interesting  to  the  admirers 
of  Moli^re,   but  also  of  importance   to   our 
subject,  which  must  be  our  excuse  for  quoting 
it  at  length.     It  illustrates  the  taste  for  luxury 
which  the  Grand  Monarque  spread  amongst 
the  middle  class,  and  at  the  same  time  gives 
the  actual  prices  of  the  beautiful  pieces   of 
furniture    manufactured    by    private    firms. 
Moreover,  it  reveals  to  us  in  a  manner  the 
more   striking   for   its    very    simplicity,  the 
strife  that  was  then  going   on   between  the 
Louis  XIII.  and  the  Italian  styles,  as  well 
as  between  the  latter  and  that  inaugurated 
at  the  Gobelins.     The  bed  described  above, 
magnificent    and    costly   though   it    was,   is 
draped   entirely  in   the   old   style,  some   of 
the  tables   have  turned  feet,  in  the  fashion 
in   vogue   under   Henri  II.,  but   simplified, 
as  seen  in  the  engravings  of  Abraham  Bosse, 
whilst    the    gilded,   painted,   and   varnished 
chairs,  arm-chairs,   and   small   round   tables 
reflect  more  or  less  clearly  the  influence  of 

123 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

the  Italian  style.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
is  none  of  the  tortoiseshell  marqueterie  which 
Boulle  was  beginning  to  make  popular,  a  fact 
tending  to  prove  that  it  was  then  very  costly, 
and  reserved  for  royalty.  Lastly,  the  bed- 
room of  this  period  reveals  the  first  introduc- 
tion of  a  new  piece  of  furniture — the  couch, 
also  known  as  the  lit  a  la  duchesse,  which  is 
much  the  same  thing  as  the  modern  sofa, 
with  one  or  two  pillows — that  is  to  say,  a 
lounge,  with  a  support  for  the  back  at  one 
or  both  ends.  If  we  had  given  the  whole  of 
the  inventory  we  should  have  come  to  two 
other  new  inventions  :  the  screen  to  place  in 
front  of  the  hearth,  and  the  folding-screen, 
introduced  from  the  East  at  the  same  time  as 
the  lacquer  or  varnished  work  in  the  Chinese 
style,  of  which,  as  we  have  seen,  the  famous 
comedian  had  a  few  examples. 

It  would,  no  doubt,  be  interesting  before 
closing  this  chapter  on  furniture  in  the  time 
of  Louis  XIV.  to  dwell  on  the  extraordinary 
influence  exercised  over  the  manners  of  all 
the  intellectual  classes  by  the  arrogant  person- 
ality of  the  King  ;  to  comment,  for  instance,  on 
the  way  in  which  the  furniture  of  private  homes 
directly  reflects  the  luxury  of  the  monarch, 
and  to  quote  the  profound  reflection  of  La 
Bruy^re,  *'  II  n  y  a  point  de  patrie  dans  le 
despotique ;  d'autres  choses  y  suppldent 
124 


THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

I'int^ret,  la  gloire,  le  service  du  prince ; "  but 
the  history  of  those  days  is  so  well  known, 
and  they  are  so  near  to  our  own  time,  that  we 
may  well  leave  to  our  readers  the  task  of 
drawing  deductions  which  would  greatly 
widen  the  scope  of  the  subject  to  which  our 
present  work  is  limited. 


125 


THE  EIGHTH  CHAPTER 

THE  REGENCY  AND  LOUIS  XV 

OTHING  checked  the  evolution 
of  French  decorative  art  in  the 
direction  so  vigorously  given  to 
it  by  the  artists  patronised  by 
the  munificence  of  Louis  XIV. 
and  the  wise  judgment  of  Colbert ;  not 
even  the  death  of  the  great  minister, 
which  occurred  in  1683,  nor  that  of  Le 
Brun,  who  died  seven  years  later ;  not  the 
ruinous  wars  which  occupied  the  whole  of  the 
closing  years  of  the  reign,  and  necessitated 
the  closing  for  a  long  time  of  the  royal 
Gobelins  manufactory,  nor  the  religious  zeal 
with  which  the  King  was  inspired,  through 
his  love  for  Madame  de  Maintenon,  and 
which  introduced  at  Court  at  least  a  semblance 
of  simplicity  and  economy.  All  that  occurred 
was  the  logical  modification  of  public  taste  in 
a  manner  scarcely  perceptible  to  contemporary 
observers  until  the  decadence  and  final  extinc- 
tion which  resulted  from  the  introduction  into 
society  of  ideas  and  interests  absolutely  novel. 
By  this  we  mean  less  the  crisis  of  the  Revo- 
lution than  the  military  despotism  of  Napo- 
leon I.,  which  turned  the  thoughts  of  the 
126 


Plate  XXXII 


CUPBOARD.     By    Charles   Cressent.     Epoch    Regence.     Chappey 
Collection 


Plate  XXXIII 


COMMODE  OF  THE  REGENCY  PERIOD.     By  Charles  Cressent. 
Wallace  Collection 


Plate  XXXIV 


GILDED  REGENCE  TABLE.     Collection  of  Mme  Brach 


Plate  XXXV 


LARGE  REGENCE  DESK.     Louvre  Museum 


Plate  XXXVI 


CHEST  OF  DRAWERS.     Epoch  Regence.     In  the  Bishop's 
residence  at  Meaux 


Plate  XXXVII 


TABLE.    Epoch  Regence  Period.     Retrospective  Exhibition,  Paris 


THE  REGENCY  AND  LOUIS  XV 

nation  completely  away  from  matters  artistic, 
that  had  seemed  of  such  vital  importance  in 
the  society  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
concentrated  all  eyes  upon  the  enthralling 
and  terrible  drama  of  the  conquest  of  Europe 
on  which  depended  the  very  life  of  France. 
We  shall  be  able  to  prove  beyond  a  doubt, 
by  the  examples  we  give  in  this  closing 
section  of  our  work,  that  what  is  known  as 
the  Empire  style  was  due  to  the  last  surviv- 
ing artists  of  the  Monarchy,  and  that  the 
so-called  style  of  the  Restoration  represents 
but  the  final  anguish  of  their  traditions,  as 
interpreted  by  pupils  who  were  in  no  sense 
artists,  but  ignorant  artisans  without  so  much 
as  any  manual  skill. 

These  preliminary  remarks  are  necessary 
to  show  that  in  our  opinion  the  French 
school  to  which  Louis  XIV.  had  the  honour 
of  giving  his  name  is  one  and  the  same  with 
that  we  are  now  about  to  study,  though  it  is 
not  possible  to  divide  it  into  distinct  and  well- 
defined  periods,  still  less  to  give  to  arbitrary 
sections  the  deceptive  titles  in  general 
use  of  the  Regency  style,  Louis  XV.  style, 
Louis  XVI.,  Directory,  Empire,  or  Restora- 
tion styles. 

It  is  easy  to  quote  examples  of  much 
earlier  date  than  the  death  of  the  Grand 
Monarque,  which  took  place  in  17 15,  which 

127 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

have  all  the  peculiarities  supposed  to  char- 
acterise the  new  reign  inaugurated  under  the 
regency  of  Philip  of  Orleans.  These  peculi- 
arities consist  in  a  greater  suppleness  of  the 
general  design  of  furniture,  the  more  constant 
use  of  sculptures  in  metal  in  its  decoration, 
and  the  introduction  of  the  shell  and  of  lines 
derived  from  it  in  ornamentation.  When  we 
consider  the  graceful  arabesques  of  B^rain, 
the  drawings  left  behind  him  by  Oppenordt,  by 
the  architect  Robert  de  Cotte,  who  was  already 
fifty  years  old  when  Louis  XIV.  ascended 
the  throne,  the  so-called  singeries  of  Gillot, 
who  was  the  master  of  Watteau,  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  the  quaint  whims,  supposed  to  be  the 
exclusive  characteristic  of  the  subjects  of  the 
great-grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  were  already 
indulged  in  during  the  best  time  of  the  artistic 
domination  of  Le  Brun,  and  that  they  were 
by  no  means  confined  to  the  works  produced 
in  the  royal  manufactories.  The  modification 
of  style  that  was  really  accentuated  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  was  the 
use  of  inharmonious  decoration,  to  which  the 
name  of  rocaille  was  given.  Two  considera- 
tions readily  explain  this — the  first,  a  purely 
moral  one,  illustrating  an  historical  law,namely, 
the  increasing  need  of  some  reaction  for  minds 
weary  of  academic  rules  in  the  sense  in  which 
they  were  then  understood,  which  governed 
128 


Plate  XXXVIII 


CONSOLE.    Epoch  Louis  XV.     Carnavalet  Museum,  Paris 


THE  REGENCY  AND  LOUIS  XV 

all  art  production,  and  took  it  for  granted 
that  symmetry  was  the  leading  principle  of 
all  noble  form,  that  of  the  human  figure  not 
excepted.  The  second  explanation  is  more 
definite  and  scientific,  being  merely  the 
growing  taste  for  certain  forms  of  Chinese  art, 
appreciation  for  which  was  first  started  by 
Mazarin,  who  owned  a  good  many  examples 
of  Chinese  lacquer-work  and  porcelain,  as 
proved  by  his  Inventory.  There  is  no  need 
here  to  dwell  on  the  caprices  indulged  in  by 
designers  of  the  remote  Orient,  on  the  care- 
lessness with  which  they  repeat  the  same 
motives  side  by  side,  and  the  habit  they  have 
of  constantly  breaking  off  the  curved  line 
instead  of  rounding  it  off.  These  are  funda- 
mental peculiarities  recognised  in  the  most 
cursory  examination  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
in  studying  the  most  rococco  examples  of  the 
furniture  of  the  Louis  XV.  period,  such  as 
some  of  the  works  of  Meissonnier  or  Jacques 
Cafiieri,  for  instance,  there  will  be  no  difficulty 
in  discovering  quite  similar  decorative  ideas. 
It  remains  to  point  out  how  the  taste  for 
Chinese  work  spread  amongst  the  people  after 
the  death  of  Mazarin,  but  we  can  only  do  so 
briefly  within  the  limits  of  this  book,  which 
prevent  us  from  quoting  examples  of  this 
taste  in  painting,  ceramic  ware,  tapestry,  and 
embroidery.     Collectors  of  foreign  art  work 

R  129 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

such  as  Mazarin,  would  naturally  try  to  get 
manufacturers  to  imitate  works,  the  acquisition 
of  which  proved  their  own  good  taste  and 
had  cost  them  so  much  money.  The  Dutch 
began  this  imitation,  the  Parisians  followed 
suit.  The  latter  at  first  gave  their  whole  at- 
tention to  trying  to  reproduce  Chinese  lacquer 
and  varnish,  as  may  be  seen  from  one  of  the 
items  of  the  Inventory  of  Moli^re's  posses- 
sions quoted  above.  Under  the  date  1692, 
Pradel's  '*  Livre  Commode  "  notes  that  there 
were  three  manufactories  of  lacquer-work 
and  furniture  in  the  Chinese  style,  flourishing 
in  Paris,  one  in  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine, 
one  in  the  Grande  Rue  St.  Antoine,  and 
one  in  the  Rue  de  la  Tixeranderie,  but  their 
proprietors  had  been  anticipated  by  others 
long  before,  for,  according  to  the  *'  Comptes 
des  Bitiments  du  Roi,"  a  certain  Louis  le 
Hongre  was  actually  at  work  in  1655  at 
decorations  in  lacquer  in  the  King's  palace 
at  Versailles.  At  first  French  workmen  were 
content  to  imitate  Chinese  designs  and  colours, 
then  they  tried  to  produce  equivalents  of  them, 
but  it  was  not,  it  would  seem,  until  the  first 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  they 
had  the  audacity  to  introduce  in  their  decora- 
tive carvings  dragons  exactly  like  the  Oriental 
type,  such  as,  to  quote  but  one  example, 
those  on  the  handles  of  a  fine  commode  by 
130 


Plate    XXXIX 


CONSOLE.     Epoch  Louis  XV.     Collection  of  M.  de  le  Breteche 


Plate  XL 


SOFA.     Louis  XV.     Palace  of  Versailles 


THE  REGENCY  AND  LOUIS  XV 

Charles  Cressent  in  the  Wallace  Collection. 
This  was  the  important  step,  and  as  soon  as 
French  ebenists  had  taken  it,  they  never 
left  off  turning  for  inspiration  to  examples 
brought  from  China,  not  only  for  details  of 
ornamentation,  but  also  for  the  general 
scheme  of  decoration,  which  completely 
modified  the  structure  of  the  furniture  they 
produced. 

Before  resuming  the  chronological  course 
of  our  review,  it  appears  to  us  fitting  to  speak 
of  the  Martins,  a  family  famous  for  having 
evolved  out  of  the  lacquer- work  imported 
from  China,  a  very  distinctively  French  style 
of  decorating  furniture  that  was  one  of  the 
chief  charms  of  French  homes  in  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  most  celebrated 
member  of  this  family  was  Robert  Martin, 
who  was  born  in  1706.  In  his  marriage 
certificate,  dated  1733,  he  is  already  styled  a 
vernisseur  du  rot.  One  of  his  brothers  held 
a  patent  for  manufacturing  all  sorts  of  works 
in  relief  in  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  styles, 
and  he  had  three  sons,  two  of  whom  followed 
his  profession.  In  documents  of  this  period 
it  is  often  difficult  to  decide  to  which  of  these 
artists,  all  designated  by  their  family  name 
only,  this  or  that  work  should  be  attributed. 
In  1748  the  title  of  Royal  Manufactories  was 
given   to  their  three   establishments   in  the 

131 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

Faubourg  St.  Martin,  Faubourg  St.  Denis, 
and  Rue  St.  Magloire.  Between  1749  and 
1756  the  name  of  Martin  constantly  occurs 
in  the  royal  accounts  for  works  executed  at 
Versailles,  especially  whilst  the  apartments  of 
the  Dauphin  were  being  re-decorated,  their 
grand  ornamentation  in  the  antique  style 
having  ceased  to  please  ;  now  and  then,  also, 
Madame  de  Pompadour  employed  one  or 
more  of  them  in  the  embellishment  of  her 
chdteau  at  Belleville,  paying  in  1752  for  work 
done  by  them  the  sum,  very  large  for  the 
time,  of  58,000  livres ;  the  fame  of  the  so- 
called  Martin-lacquer  work  was  then  at  its 
height,  and  Voltaire  sings  its  praise  in  the 
following  lines : 

Ces  cabinets  ou  Martin 

A  surpass^  I'art  de  la  Chine. 

The  King  of  Prussia  took  one  of  the  sons 
of  Martin  into  his  service,  and  there  were 
pupils  enough  of  the  Martin  family  to  flood 
Europe  with  the  fashionable  lacquer-work 
with  which  were  covered  not  only  the  furni- 
ture and  panels  of  reception-rooms,  but  also 
instruments  of  music,  sedan-chairs,  coaches 
and  sledges.  It  was  indeed  this  very  excess 
which  ended  in  bringing  the  style  into  dis- 
repute. Even  before  the  death  of  Louis  XV. 
people  began  to  turn  against  what  were  called 
132 


THE  REGENCY  AND  LOUIS  XV 

pagodas,  which  were  mere  copies  of  foreign 
models  in  imitation  lacquer  with  a  black,  red, 
white,  or  reddish  brown  ground,  as  well  as 
against  the  singeries  and  chinoiseries  in  the 
production  of  which  lacquer-makers  collab- 
orated with  painters  such  as  Watteau,  Gillot, 
Huet,  Boucher,  Leprince,  and  Gravelot. 
Examples  of  furniture  varnished  in  the  Martin 
style  are  too  numerous,  even  at  the  present 
day,  for  it  to  be  necessary  to  mention  any  par- 
ticular ones — moreover,  those  who  wish  to  get 
a  thorough  idea  of  the  brilliant  yet  delicate 
charm  of  the  process,  should  go  and  see  the 
pretty  little  boudoirs  decorated  by  real  masters 
of  the  style,  such  as  those  in  the  Chiteau  of 
Chantilly,  and  in  the  National  Printing  Estab- 
lishment in  what  was  once  the  H6tel  de 
Rohan. 

Wemustnowclose  this  parenthesis  devoted 
to  the  Martins  and  return  to  the  Regency. 
It  would  doubtless  not  have  become  customary 
to  designate  by  that  title  the  short  period  of 
insensible  transition  between  the  style  of 
Louis  XIV.  and  that  of  Louis  XV.,  but  for  the 
fact  that  the  man  who  was  perhaps  the  very 
best  decorative  artist  of  the  century,  Charles 
Cressent,  flourished  in  it.  Born  in  1685,  this 
grandson  of  an  ebenist  and  son  of  a  sculptor, 
this  master  whose  taste  and  skill  were  alike 
remarkable,  lived  until   1768,  keeping  up  the 

133 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

true  traditions  of  the  art  of  making  furniture  at 
a  time  when  the  reaction  in  favour  of  the  light 
and  graceful  might  have  led  to  degeneration. 
His  grand  talent  as  a  sculptor  led  him  to  give 
dignity  to  certain  new  motives,  which  if  pro- 
duced during  the  time  of  the  Grand  Monarque 
would  probably  have  been  quite  lacking  in 
that  quality,  and  would  have  even  become 
vulgar  if  the  old  French  traditions  had  been 
for  one  moment  abandoned.  We  allude 
especially  to  the  exquisite  figures  of  women 
placed  at  the  corners  of  furniture,  chiefly  on 
tables  to  which  the  name  of  espagnolettes  was 
given,  and  which  are  suggestive  of  the  delicate 
type  of  female  beauty  evolved  by  Watteau. 
But  although  Cressent  was  first  of  all  a 
master  of  works  of  art  in  bronze,  he  never 
neglected  the  general  style  of  the  furniture 
made  in  his  workshops,  without  which  his 
sculptures  would  have  been  of  no  value,  and 
he  followed  the  style  of  Oppenordt  and  Robert 
de  Cotte.  To  get  a  good  idea  of  the  talent  of 
Cressent,  it  is  desirable  to  examine  the  beauti- 
ful furniture  enriching  the  Louvre  and  Wallace 
collections:  the  latter  indeed  contains  what 
is  perhaps  his  most  highly  finished  master- 
piece— the  commode  already  mentioned  with 
handles  representing  Chinese  dragons.  It  is, 
moreover,  easy  to  determine  the  works  of  this 
ebenist  of  the  Regent,  who  was  the  author  of 

134 


Plate  XLI 


CORNER  CUPBOARD.     Epoch  Louis  XV.     Greffuhle  Collection 


THE  REGENCY  AND  LOUIS  XV 

the  greater  number  of  the  best  pieces  of  fur- 
niture of  his  time,  for  he  has  himself  described 
many  of  them  in  the  lists  for  three  sales  held 
during  his  life,  in  terms  of  proud  apprecia- 
tion, for  which  his  undoubted  superiority  is 
an  excuse.  He  speaks,  for  instance,  of  a 
bookcase  '*  in  the  best  taste,"  a  **  clock  worthy 
to  be  placed  in  the  very  finest  cabinets,"  a 
bureau  ''ornamented  with  the  most  dis- 
tinguished bronzes,"  commodes  '*  of  the  most 
elegant  form,  adorned  with  bronzes  of  extra- 
ordinary richness."  To  attempt  to  describe, 
or  even  enumerate  them  here  would  be  to 
fill  the  remaining  pages  of  this  book  ;  many 
are  in  tortoiseshell  marqueterie  after  the  style 
of  BouUe,  whose  pupil  Cressent  certainly  was, 
others  are  in  marqueterie  of  different  coloured 
woods,  violet,  pink  or  purple,  a  kind  of  work 
the  latter  is  wrongly  credited  with  having 
invented.  As  a  rule,  however,  his  decorative 
designs  in  brass  are  so  wonderfully  beautiful 
that  the  attention  is  drawn  away  from  the 
furniture  they  adorn,  and  the  critics  who  look 
upon  this  as  a  fault,  do  not  sufficiently  re- 
member that  in  the  golden  age  of  French 
cabinet-making  more  attention  was  given  to 
the  carving  of  furniture  than  to  any  other 
detail.  Now  we  repeat  that  Charles  Cressent 
was  a  true  and  also  a  very  great  sculptor, 
as  capable  of  turning  out  a  good  bust  to 

135 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

order,  such  as  the  one  of  Philip  of  Orleans, 
originally  in  the  fine  cabinet  of  medals  of  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Genevieve,  now  in  the  Biblio- 
th^que  Nationale,  as  with  boasting-tool 
and  burin  to  improvise  garlands  of  flowers, 
singeries  after  Gillot,  and  espagnolettes  after 
Watteau. 

It  has  been  said,  and  with  justice,  that  until 
the  reaction  set  in  in  favour  of  the  straight 
line — known  as  the  Louis  XVI.  style — all 
designers  of  furniture  were  but  the  pupils  of 
Cressent.  Unfortunately,  as  often  happens, 
these  pupils  exaggerated  into  faults  what  were 
the  distinctive  qualities! of  the  master.  One 
of  them  was  Juste  Aur61e  Meissonnier,  born 
at  Turin  in  1695,  who  brought  with  him  to 
Paris,  in  addition  to  his  Italian  cleverness,  the 
decadent  taste  of  his  fellow  countrymen  for 
lavish  and  distorted  decoration.  As  designer 
to  the  King  he  used  his  extraordinary  gift  of 
invention  to  produce  a  great  variety  of  works, 
often  pleasing  enough  in  spite  of  the  confusion 
of  curves  and  convolutions,  the  principle  of 
which,  if  principle  there  be,  it  is  difficult  to 
make  out,  and  it  is  of  him  and  of  his  imitators 
that  we  generally  think  when  the  term  rocaille 
is  used  ;  that  style  was,  however,  originated  in 
Italy  long  before  the  birth  of  Meissonnier  and 
passed  into  France  with  the  masters  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  such  as  Bernini,  but  it 
136 


Plate  XLII 


WRITING-TABLE  AND  CABINET.     Louis  XV.     Mahogany, 
inlaid  with  Sevres  Plaques 


THE  REGENCY  AND  LOUIS  XV 

was  not  until  the  end  of  the  Regency  that,  to 
use  a  common  but  expressive  term,  it  really 
"  took  on.'*  Rocaille-wovk  was  everywhere  in 
great  demand,  and  Meissonnier  was  ready 
enough  to  supply  it,  as  proved  by  his  engrav- 
ings of  designs.  He  not  only  designed  furni- 
ture for  the  King,  but  woodwork  of  all  kinds 
for  the  general  public,  especially  tables,  can- 
delabra, sheaths  for  swords,  snuff-boxes, 
handles  of  walking-sticks,  scissors,  inkstands, 
tombs,  altars,  sledges,  fireworks,  &c. 

After  his  death,  in  1750,  the  post  of 
Dessinateur  de  la  Chambre  et  Cabinet  du 
Rot  w2iS  held  successively  until  1764  by  the 
three  brothers  Slodtz,  the  sons  of  a  sculptor  of 
Antwerp  and  the  daughter  of  Cucci.  It  is 
quite  as  impossible  to  discriminate  the  share 
taken  by  each  of  these  brothers  in  the  work  left 
behind  them,  as  it  was  in  the  case  of  the  Martins. 
They  may,  indeed,  have  collaborated — an  hypo- 
thesis of  great  probability.  True  followers  of 
Cressent  in  the  ornamentation  of  furniture, 
carrying  truth  of  draughtsmanship  almost  to 
the  point  of  frigidity,  they  indulged  in  their 
designs  for  jewellery  in  a  complicated  intricacy 
greater  even  than  that  of  Meissonnier,  and 
exceeded  only  by  the  style  of  Thomas  Germain, 
a  sculptor  and  chaser  who,  like  themselves, 
was  in  the  employ  of  the  Court.  We  need  not 
dwell  now  upon  their  works.    We  will  content 

s  137 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

ourselves  with  noting  that  the  brothers  were 
gifted  with  a  refined  imagination,  that  they 
skilfully  wielded  the  chisel  of  the  sculptor  and 
were  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  French  tradi- 
tions of  the  preceding  century,  to  which  they 
often  turned  for  inspiration.  Their  masterpiece 
is  unquestionably  a  large  cabinet  for  medals, 
once  a  treasure  of  the  Palace  of  Versailles, 
and  now,  with  the  corner-cupboards  supple- 
menting it,  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale. 
The  reproduction  we  give  here  makes  it 
unnecessary  to  dwell  either  upon  the  graceful 
floral  arabesques  combined  with  medallions, 
or  upon  the  general  charm  of  the  composition, 
which,  if  compared  with  the  commode  of 
Cressent  figured  above,  cannot  fail  to  show 
that  a  reaction  in  favour  of  simplicity  was 
about  to  set  in.  We  shall  recur  to  this  in  our 
next  chapter. 

To  complete  the  list  of  the  great  sculptors 
m  bronze  for  the  decoration  of  furniture  of 
the  Rocaille  period,  we  have  still  to  speak  of 
the  most  fantastic  and  also  the  cleverest  of 
them  all — Jacques  Caffieri,  fifth  son  of  the 
Caffieri  who  worked  for  Louis  XIV.  and 
father  of  Philippe,  the  third  of  that  name  of 
this  great  family  of  artists,  who  collaborated 
with  him  in  all  his  work  until  his  own  death 

in  1755. 

Some  critics,  struck  with  the  comparative 

138 


Plate  XLIII 


LOUIS  XV  COMMODE.     By  Jacques  Caffieri,  in  the  Wallace 
Collection 


THE  REGENCY  AND  LOUIS  XV 

soberness  of  the  earlier  works  of  Jacques 
Caffieri,  in  which  he  seems  to  be  an  admirer 
of  Robert  de  Cotte,  and  with  the  unbridled 
imagination  of  his  later  productions,  in  which 
he  greatly  exceeds  the  audacity  even  of 
Meissonnier,  have  conceived  the  idea  that  the 
latter  may  be  attributed  to  Philippe,  and 
may  have  been  produced  during  the  seven 
years  he  survived  his  father.  It  is  perhaps 
unnecessary  to  go  so  far  for  an  explana- 
tion that  is  founded  on  no  document.  The 
Italian  birth  of  the  ebenist  of  Louis  XIV. 
is  quite  enough  to  account  for  the  eagerness 
with  which  Jacques  Caffieri  took  up  the 
Rocaille  style,  which  gave  full  scope  to  his 
extraordinary  dexterity.  It  was  said  of  his 
second  son  Jean  Jacques,  author  of  the 
admirable  bust  of  Rotrou  at  the  Comddie- 
Fran^aise,  that  he  kneaded  marble,  and  of  him 
it  might  equally  well  be  asserted  that  he 
kneaded  bronze.  In  the  end  he  used  com- 
pletely to  cover  over  the  furniture  he  produced 
with  brass  decorations;  his  beautiful  commode 
in  the  Wallace  Collection  is  of  an  almost 
austere  simplicity  compared  with  the  bureau 
in  black  lacquer  of  the  Minist^re  de  la  Justice, 
the  drawers  of  which  are  disguised  in  a  com- 
plicated casing  of  copper,  whilst  the  supports 
down  to  the  very  feet,  are  nothing  but  droop- 
ing masses  of  flowers  ;  or  still  more  compared 

139 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

with  the  famous  table  with  a  set  of  pigeon- 
holes owned  by  the  Metternich  family  of 
Vienna,  surmounted  by  a  perfect  pyramid  of 
rocks  and  figures,  and  with  complicated  sup- 
ports without  any  wood  in  them  at  all.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  go  further  in  this 
direction  ;  the  art  of  Caffieri  was  the  cul- 
minating effect,  the  final  flare-up,  of  the  lavish 
style  of  decoration  encouraged  by  the  patron- 
age of  Louis  XIV.  and  Madame  de  Pompa- 
dour, which  charms  in  spite  of  its  complicated 
extravagance.  Nor  is  it,  after  all,  quite  fair  to 
criticise  this  furniture,  which  would,  of  course, 
be  out  of  place  in  modern  rooms,  but  was 
quite  appropriate  in  the  lofty  salons  of  the 
time,  with  their  carved  wainscots  and  richly 
decorated  ceilings. 

The  designers  of  decorative  sculpture  so 
dominated  the  Louis  XV.  period  that  the 
names  of  the  ebenists  who  collaborated  with 
them  are  no  longer  known  to  the  public.  It 
is  really  unjust  not  to  remember  Gaudreaux, 
who  not  only  made  the  cabinet  for  medals 
designed  by  the  Slodtzs,  but  also  a  great 
number  of  pieces  of  furniture  for  the  Court  of 
the  chief  favourite  of  the  King  ;  Joubert,  who 
was  the  author  of  the  corner-cupboard  supple- 
menting it ;  Migeon,  who  showed  so  much 
^  taste  in  the  toilette  furniture  of  Madame  de 
[  Pompadour  that  she  rewarded  him  with  a  pen- 
140 


Plate  XLIV 


CHEST  OF  DRAWERS.     Epoch  Louis  XV.    In  the  Prefecture 
of  Indre-et-Loire 


Plate  XLV 


MEDAL  CABINET.     By  Slodtz.      From  the  private  apartments  of 
Louis  XV  at  Versailles 


Plate  XLVI 


LOUIS  XV  SECRETAIRE.    With  Marqueterie  inlaid  with 
Sevres  panels.     South  Kensington  Museum 


Plate  XLVI 


LOUIS  XV  WRITING  TABLE.     Mahogany  inlaid  with  Sevres 
Plaques.     South  Kensington  Museum 


THE  REGENCY  AND  LOUIS  XV 

sion  of  a  thousand  crowns ;  Sulpice,  Arnoult 
and  Loriot,  who  devoted  themselves  to 
making  the  mechanical  tables  which  obviated 
the  necessity  of  having  servants  to  wait  at 
meals,  arm-chairs  that  could  be  taken  to  pieces, 
and  tables  with  springs,  all  proofs  of  the 
attention  then  given  to  comfort.  Already, 
however,  all  documents  relating  to  these  men 
are  lost,  and  even  less  is  known  of  a  large 
number  of  artists  who  have  left  nothing  but 
their  signatures,  or  sometimes  only  their 
initials,  to  tantalise  in  vain  the  curiosity  of  the 
amateur,  on  pieces  of  furniture  of  undoubted 
charm.  The  following  are  a  few  of  such 
names :  I.  P.  Latz,  L.  Boudin,  J.  Dubois, 
Gillet,  Bernard,  Pierre  Pionnier,  Etienne 
Levasseur,  Nicolas  Petit,  Francois  Bayer, 
Claude  Choquet,  Guesnon,  Pierre  Denizot, 
J.  B.  Hddouin,  Pierre  Gamier,  Jean  Pierre 
Lathuile,  Jacques  Dautriche,  Filleul,  C.  L. 
de  la  Roue,  Le  Blanc,  Voisin,  Jabodot, 
Hdbert,  Delorme,  Lazare,  Duvaux,  Pleney, 
Robert  Victor  la  Croix,  and  Pineau. 

Every  one  will  recognise  better  than  we 
can  describe  in  our  brief  space  the  appro- 
priateness of  the  Regency  style,  succeeded  by 
the  Rocaille.io  the  manners  of  the  half-century 
during  which  reigned  the  thoughtless  but 
artistic  prince,  to  whom  his  people  too  hastily 
gave  the  name  of  the  Well-Beloved.     The 

hi; 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

literature  of  the  time  is  still  widely  read,  and 
paintings  and  engravings  representing  the  life 
of  the  aristocracy  and  middle  classes  are  every- 
where disseminated.  Watteau,  whose  lovers 
in  theatrical  costumes  wander  about  in  melan- 
choly-looking, conventional  landscapes,  caught 
the  very  spirit  of  the  society,  which  delighted 
in  combining  jesting  with  philosophy,  and  was 
willing  to  allow  the  very  greatest  artists  to 
spend  their  whole  lives  in  designing  such 
trifles  as  furniture  of  various  kinds. 


142 


THE  NINTH  CHAPTER 


LOUIS  XVL,  THE  REVOLUTION 
AND  THE  EMPIRE 

N  the  preceding  chapter  we  have 
described  only  that  branch  of  the 
Louis  XIV.  style  which  cul- 
minated and  came  to  an  end  in  the 
wild  efflorescence  of  the  Rocaille 
phase,  which,  however,  had  also  dominated  the 
reign  of  Louis  XV.  We  have  now  to  study 
another  style,  evolved  side  by  side  with  it, 
at  first  comparatively  humble,  but  which 
gradually  became  its  equal  in  importance,  and 
eventually  superseded  it.  We  allude  to  the 
decorative  style  most  inappropriately  called 
that  of  Louis  XVL,  seeing  that  its  finest 
period  was  when  Madame  du  Barry  was  in 
favour.  There  was,  indeed,  no  revolution  in 
public  taste — there  are  never  any  sudden 
changes  in  the  history  of  art— not  even  a 
return  to  the  old  simplicity  which  would  have 
been  explained  by  the  weariness  of  excessive 
complication  of  design,  but  simply  the  success 
of  a  school  that  had  remained  more  in  touch 
with  academic  traditions,  a  success  brought 
about  to  some  extent  by  the  lack  of  men  of 
preponderating  talent  (for  where  there  is  no 

143 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

particular  method  there  are  no  disciples),  and 
also  the  result  of  certain  accidental  circum- 
stances which  we  will  mention  without  any 
attempt  at  classifying  in  order  of  their  import- 
ance. In  17 19  Herculaneum  was  discovered 
beneath  the  ashes  of  Mount  Vesuvius  ;  in 
1748  important  excavations  were  begun  on  its 
site  as  well  as  on  that  of  Pompeii,  and  the 
antiquities  brought  to  light  aroused  great 
enthusiasm  amongst  artists,  especially  archi- 
tects. In  1746  Madame  de  Pompadour  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  for  her  brother,  then 
nineteen  years  old,  the  reversion  of  the  post  of 
Direct eur-General  des  Bdtiments  du  Rot,  but 
at  the  same  time  she  took  the  wise  precaution 
of  preparing  him  for  that  important  position 
by  making  him  travel  in  Italy  for  three  years 
— from  1749  to  1 75 1 — under  the  guidance  of 
the  architect  Soufflot,  the  engraver  Charles 
Nicolas  Cochin,  and  the  Abb^  Leblanc.  We 
know  too  well  the  aversion  of  Cochin  to 
the  exponents  of  the  Rocaille  style  to  doubt 
that  he  urged  his  pupil  Francois  Poussin  to 
follow  the  path  of  nature  and  simplicity. 
About  the  same  time  an  impulse  was  given 
to  the  study  of  archaeology,  for  the  Comte 
de  Caylus  set  to  work  to  describe  the  en- 
graved stones  in  the  cabinet  du  roi,  whilst 
Bouchardon  made  drawings  of  them.  The 
'*  Recueil  d'Antiquitds  "  of  De  Caylus  was 
144   • 


Plate  XLVIII 


SMALL  DESK.     By  Riesner.     Reign  of  Louis  XVI 


LOUIS  XVI.  STYLE 

published  between  1752  and  1767;  the  Abbd 
Barthdlemy,  keeper  of  the  Cabmet  cies 
M6dailles,  became  known  through  his  essays 
on  coins  and  medals,  and  began  to  collect  the 
materials  for  his  celebrated  '*  Voyage  du 
Jeune  Anacharsis  en  Grece"  ;  in  1754  Winck- 
elmann  gave  to  the  world  his  ''Gedanken 
uber  die  Nachahmung  der  Griecheschen  Wer- 
ken"  (Reflections  on  the  Imitation  of  Greek 
Art),  succeeded  in  1764  by  his  '' Geschichte 
der  Kunst  des  Alterthums "  (History  of 
Antique  Art),  and  in  1766  by  his  "  Monu- 
mente  Antichi  Inediti." 

This  is  enough  to  prove  that  the  spirit 
of  what  is  called  the  Louis  XVI.  style 
was  in  the  air  long  before  the  accession 
of  that  monarch,  and  we  will  now  show  that 
the  taste  for  that  phase  of  decoration  really 
preceded  it.  In  certain  works  of  Charles 
Andrd  Boulle,  for  instance,  the  distinctive 
curve  is  entirely  absent,  except  in  certain 
details  of  appliqud  copper  work,  which  are, 
however,  of  a  very  sober  character,  so  that 
the  clearly  defined  outlines  of  the  woodwork 
at  first  sight  recall  compositions  half  a 
century  older.  A  typical  example  of  this  is 
the  low  marqueterie  bookcase  in  the  posses- 
sion of  M.  le  Comte  de  Castellane.  A  faith- 
ful follower  of  Boulle,  Cressent  produced 
some  pieces  of  furniture,  notably  his  cabinet 

T  145 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

of  medals  of  the  Biblioth^que  Nationale, 
which  only  need  to  have  a  few  of  the  lines 
straightened  to  become  true  specimens  of  the 
Louis  XVI.  style,  and  some  of  his  best 
armoires  are  of  a  very  simple  angular  design. 
When  we  come  to  Slodtz,  who  was  equally 
enamouredof  Italian  exuberance  of  fancy  andof 
severity  of  style,  not  even  the  slightest  effort  of 
imagination  is  necessary,  and  some  designs 
for  woodwork,  such  as  those  preserved  in  the 
cabinet  des  estafnpes,  intended  for  furniture 
for  the  Ministfere  de  la  Marine,  cannot  fail  at 
once  to  call  up  a  vision  of  the  final  evolution  of 
the  century.  The  ebenists  of  the  day  were 
among  the  first  to  adopt  the  new  fashion,  the 
cabinet  for  medals  of  Joubert  in  the  Biblio- 
th^que  Nationale  has  the  thick-set  structure 
characteristic  of  so  much  of  the  work  pro- 
duced in  the  time  of  Louis  XVI.,  although  it 
was  made  but  the  year  after  the  birth  of  that 
prince,  and  many  tables  and  small  bureaux 
dispersed  in  various  collections,  which  were 
made  during  the  same  period,  might  easily  be 
attributed  to  a  later  date.  Lastly,  it  is 
interesting  to  remember  that  when  Louis  XVI. 
ascended  the  throne  many  of  the  buildings 
in  what  is  called  his  style  had  already  been 
erected  in  Paris,  notably  the  Garde-Meuble 
and  Ecole  Militaire  of  the  architect  Gabriel 
and  the  Monnaie  of  Antoine. 
146 


Plate  XLIX 


ARMCHAIR  covered  with  Beauvais  tapestry. 
Louis  XVI.     South  Kensington  Museum 


Plate    L 


I     •"  f     ■  'j  1" 

LOUIS  XVI  SOFA.     Palace  of  the  Petit  Trianon,  Versailles 


Plate  LI 


SOFA.     Epoch  Louis  XVI.   Palace  of  the  Elysee,  Paris 


LOUIS  XVI.  STYLE 

It  is,  however,  the  furniture  collected  at 
Versailles  and  at  Louveciennes  by  Madame 
du  Barry  in  the  five  last  years  of  the  reign  of 
Louis  XV.  which  is  most  interesting  from 
our  particular  point  of  view ;  for  it  can  be 
looked  at  as  a  whole,  and  with  its  aid  we  can 
prove,  as  suggested  above,  that  it  consisted 
almost  entirely  of  examples  that  were  the 
glory  of  the  Louis  XVI.  style.  The  celebrated 
favourite,  who  has  been  calumniated  by  all 
manner  of  unfounded  stories,  had  the  faults 
and  good  points  of  the  child  of  the  people  she 
was.  She  was  extravagant,  fond  of  show, 
and  ignorant.  It  must  also  be  admitted  that 
in  the  arrangement  of  her  houses  she  adopted 
the  latest  fashion  in  vogue  amongst  the  most 
advanced  artists  and  amateurs  of  the  Court, 
which  brings  us  to  the  logical  conclusion 
that  when,  in  1769,  Louveciennes  was  given 
to  her,  furniture  of  simple  structure  had  dis- 
placed that  in  the  Rococo  style.  At  that  par- 
ticular moment  there  was  a  kind  of  eclipse 
of  great  decorative  artists ;  Jacques  Cafifieri, 
Meissonnier,  and  the  Slodtzs  had  long  been 
dead:  Philippe  Caffieri,  though  greatly  ad- 
vanced in  years,  continued  to  work  according 
to  the  traditions  of  his  father,  but  without 
his  fame;  and  Riesener  had  but  just  signed  his 
first  work.  When  Jeanne  Becu  became  Com- 
tesse  du  Barry  she  wished  to  find  an  artist 

H7 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

who  would  work  exclusively  for  her,  and  she 
was  advised  to  choose  Gouthi^re  as  designer 
and  decorator.  There  is  nothing  to  show 
that  he  was  known  to  the  public  before,  but 
we  may  reasonably  suppose  that  it  was 
Gabriel,  the  first  manager  of  Louveciennes,  or 
Le  Doux,  who  rebuilt  the  pavilion,  both 
great  admirers  of  the  pseudo-antique  style, 
who  recommended  their  young  collaborator, 
Gouthifere,  who  was  then  but  thirty  years  old, 
as  the  best  person  to  decorate  the  interior  of 
the  building  in  the  style  they  had  chosen  for 
its  architecture. 

This  is,  of  course,  but  a  mere  suggestion, 
for  scarcely  anything  is  known  of  the  life  of 
this  artist,  who  was  said  by  his  contempo- 
raries to  have  acquired  such  extraordinary 
skill  as  a  chaser  as  to  have  been  able  to 
make  bronze  look  like  gold.  Between  1771 
and  1773  he  executed  all,  even  the  most 
minute,  decorations  in  metal  after  the  designs 
probably  of  Le  Doux,  Jean  Denis  Dugourc, 
architect  to  Monsieur,  brother  of  the  King, 
combined  with  some  of  his  own,  in  this 
exquisite  retreat  of  the  last  mistress  of  the 
King.  Unfortunately,  the  royal  accounts  enu- 
merate them  at  too  great  length  for  us  to 
quote  the  lists  here,  for  it  would  have  been 
full  of  interest  to  a  history  of  costly  furniture 
to  give  the  descriptions  of  such  things  as 
148 


Plate  LI  I 


APPLIQUE.     By  Gouthiere.     Epoch  Louis  XVL     Grandjean 
Collection 


LOUIS  XVI.  STYLE 

candelabra  or  sconces,  wreathed  with  roses 
in  flower  and  bud  and  myrtle  foliage,  that 
were  probably  modelled,  to  begin  with,  in  wax 
and  finished  off  separately  with  the  greatest 
possible  care  ;  of  door-handles  decorated  with 
a  wreath  of  roses,  the  monograph  of  the 
Comtesse,  a  rosary,  and  a  sunflower ;  of  win- 
dow fastenings  shaped  like  a  lyre  or  a  flowering 
branch  of  lilies.  All  this  leaves  little  doubt 
that  Gouthi^re  was  also  the  chief  designer  of 
many  furniture  decorations  in  brass  that  are 
now  lost.  We  have  indeed  a  list  of  such 
designs  in  the  proc^s-verda/  dr3.wn  up  in  1794 
by  the  so-called  Commissaires  artistes  chez 
la  no7nm^e  Dubarry,  For  instance,  amongst 
paintings  by  Watteau,  Vanloo,  Fragonard, 
Greuze,  and  Boucher,  sculptures  by  Pajou, 
Falconnet,  and  Coysevox,  and  all  manner  of 
costly  trinkets,  we  find  mentioned  a  round 
table  in  Sevres  porcelain,  divided  into  six 
pastoral  subjects,  and  having  in  the  centre  a 
picture  in  enamel  representing  a  concert  in  a 
seraglio,  the  whole  upheld  by  a  single  bulbous 
support  of  Chinese  wood  decorated  with  gilded 
bronze  ;  a  commode  enriched  with  paintings 
in  enamel  and  finely  chased  gilded  bronze  on 
a  table  of  white  marble  ;  a  piano  with  a 
marqueterie  top,  &c. 

The  memoirs  of  various  furniture-dealers 
add  many  other  items  to  this  legal  list,  any 

149 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

one  of  which  if  it  came  into  the  market 
now  would  be  bid  for  at  very  high  sums — an 
armoire  and  secretaires  in  one,  of  French 
porcelain,  with  a  green  ground  strewn  with 
flowers  and  sea  pieces  in  miniature ;  a  com- 
mode of  antique  lacquer,  the  central  panel 
decorated  with  grotesque  figures  very  richly 
dressed,  with  friezes  inlaid  with  ebony  and 
enriched  with  bronze,  chased  and  gilded  with 
dull  gold,  the  whole  surmounted  by  white 
marble  ;  a  French  porcelain  table  with  shelves, 
with  a  green  ground  and  floral  cartouches 
richly  decorated  with  gilded  bronze,  the  top 
covered  with  green  velvet,  on  which  stood 
gilded  inkstands;  with  many,  other  master- 
pieces of  the  ebenist  and  chaser,  the  descrip- 
tion of  which,  however  brief,  gives  us  an  oppor- 
tunity of  classifying  an  immense  number  of 
works  in  museums  and  private  collections  as 
imitations  of  the  dainty,  delicate,  fairy-like 
creations  that  made  up  the  furniture  of  the 
Chatelaine  of  Louveciennes.  It  will  now  be 
understood  how  impossible  it  was  in  a  history 
of  French  furniture  to  dismiss  hastily  the 
short-lived  but  wonderful  luxury  that  sur- 
rounded the  beautiful  Madame  du  Barry. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that 
Gouthi^re  was  the  most  celebrated  of  the 
makers  of  furniture  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century.     He  had  one  rival,  who 

150 


Plate  LI  1 1 


CONSOLE.     Beginning  of    Louis   XVI    Epoch.      Garde    Meuble 
National,  Paris 

Plate  LIV 


CONSOLE.     Epoch  Louis  XVL     Ministry  of  the  Interior,  Paris 


REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XVI 

in  all  histories  of  French  decorative  art  under 
Louis  XVI.  is  spoken  of  as  chief  amongst  his 
contemporaries,  and  whose  life  is  fortunately 
well  known,  proving  him  to  have  been  equally 
skilful  as  an  ebenist  and  a  chaser.  This  was 
Riesener,  whose  career  is,  moreover,  of  special 
interest,  in  that  it  makes  it  possible  to  trace 
accurately  the  transition  between  the  rocaille 
and  so-called  Classic  styles,  as  well  as  the 
decadence  of  the  Louis  XVI.  style  when 
France  was  verging  on  imperialism. 

Born  at  Gladbach  in  Germany,  in  1735, 
Riesener  went  to  Paris  when  still  quite  young, 
and  became  apprenticed  to  an  ebenist  named 
Oeben,  whose  career  presents  one  of  the 
problems  such  as  we  have  met  with  again  and 
again  in  the  course  of  this  study.  This  Oeben 
was,  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose,  of 
German  extraction,  though  his  Christian  names 
were  Jean  Francois  and  he  enjoyed  all  the 
advantages  of  French  nationality.  He  had  a 
namesake,  Simon  Oeben  or  Hobenne,  who  was 
also  ebenist  to  the  King,  and  after  the  deaths 
of  both  of  them  their  widows  carried  on  their 
businesses,  so  that  it  would  not  be  surprising 
to  hear  of  two  widows  Oeben  living  at  the 
same  time,  if  we  did  not  happen  to  know  that 
one  of  them  married  again,  becoming  the  wife 
of  Riesener.  There  is  yet  another  puzzle — 
the  works  signed  with  the  name  of  Oeben, 

151 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

such  as  the  corner-cupboards  of  the  great 
bureau  of  the  Jones  Collection  at  South 
Kensington,  are  of  very  simple  construction, 
recalling  the  manner  of  Boulle,  as  modified  by 
that  of  Cressent,  but  with  decorative  bronzes 
greatly  influenced  by  the  Italian  Rococo  style. 
There  is  nothing  to  explain  the  favour  shown 
by  the  Marquise  de  Pompadour  to  the  master 
of  Riesener,  and  second  rank  alone  would  be 
accorded  to  him  if  the  inventory  of  the  work- 
shops of  Jean  Francois  Oeben  did  not  happen 
to  reveal  his  share  in  the  completion  of  what 
was  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  piece  of 
furniture  produced  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  so-called  Grand  Bureau  du  Rot,  Exactly 
what  part  was  done  by  young  Riesener,  and 
what  by  Oeben  himself,  as  well  as  by  the 
excellent  sculptors  who  collaborated  with 
thern,  Duplessis,  Winant,  and  Hervieux,  can 
never  now  be  determined.  That  Riesener's 
work  was  very  important  must,  however,  be 
admitted,  for  the  widow  of  the  master  married 
the  pupil  in  1767,  whilst  the  bureau  begun  in 
1760  was  not  delivered  until  1769,  when  it 
bore  the  signature  of  Riesener  only. 

The  artist  repeated  this  great  work — which 
a  few  years  ago  passed  into  the  Louvre  Collec- 
tion— no  less  than  four  times.  A  mere 
cursory  glance  at  it  is  enough  for  recognition 
of  its  simple  grace  of  outline  and  the  beauty 
152 


Plate  LV 


SMALL  DESK.     By  Weisweiler.     Louis  XVI  Epoch 


REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XVI 

of  its  decorative  bronzes,  which  culminate  at 
the  upper  angles  in  two  recumbent  nymphs 
holding  up  girandoles,  whilst  in  the  centre  is 
a  fine  clock  framed  in  a  wealth  of  flowers 
above  which  are  two  sportive  Cupids.  The 
marqueterie  representing  various  emblems  is 
worthy  of  the  rest  of  the  design,  and  inside 
the  woodwork  is  a  clever  mechanical  contri- 
vance for  making  all  the  drawers  come  out  at 
once.  It  may  indeed  be  said  that  this  master- 
piece of  the  cabinet-maker  is  more  perfect  and 
more  thoroughly  French  in  taste,  in  spite  of 
the  German  origin  of  its  two  chief  creators, 
than  anything  of  the  kind  ever  produced.  It 
is  typical  of  the  transitional  moment  when 
craftsmen  were  still  enjoying  the  heritage 
bequeathed  by  the  masters  of  the  Louis  XIV. 
period,  and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  exponents  of 
the  Rocaille  craze  was  beginning  to  be  tem- 
pered by  the  wisdom  that  came  from  the  study 
of  the  antique. 

The  Grand  Bureau  du  Rot  must  not, 
however,  be  looked  upon  as  an  example  of  the 
new  departure.  The  first  work  signed  by 
Riesener  unmistakably  betrays  his  faithful- 
ness to  the  traditions  of  Cressent  and  Jacques 
Caffieri,  which  he  was,  however,  very  soon  to 
abandon,  for  the  style  patronised  by  Madame 
du  Barry.  In  1777,  as  proved  by  a  cylindrical 
bureau  in  the  Mobilier  National,  he  aimed 

u  153 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

merely  at  simple  yet  accurate  grace  of  line — 
that  is  to  say,  with  him  the  groping  after  a 
combination  of  the  antique  with  the  style  of 
Oeben  lasted  only  long  enough  for  him  to 
produce  a  beautiful  table  at  Trianon,  with  the 
symbols  of  geography  and  astronomy  in 
marqueterie,  his  indecision  being  revealed 
only  in  the  over-ornate  foliage  finishing  off 
the  fluted  and  too  slender  supports.  From 
that  time  until  his  death  in  1806  he  never 
faltered  in  his  chosen  path  which  Marie 
Antoinette  and  the  people  of  France  con- 
tinued to  prefer  long  after  the  fall  of  the 
favourite  who  had  been  his  patron  so  long. 
He  was  able  to  lay  aside  the  burin  of  the 
chaser  that  he  could  wield  so  skilfully,  to 
devote  himself  entirely  to  the  humbler  work 
of  the  ebenist,  in  which  he  was  equally  able  to 
excel,  supplying  the  Court  with  quantities  of 
costly  furniture,  and  less  wealthy  purchasers 
with  works  of  comparatively  little  cost,  but 
highly  valued  on  account  of  their  unique  grace 
of  form.  This,  of  course,  led  to  his  having 
many  imitators,  so  that  it  is  often  difficult  to 
know  whether  to  attribute  to  the  master  certain 
pieces  not  bearing  his  mark ;  the  exact  re- 
semblance between  the  decorative  metal-work 
of  signed  and  anonymous  furniture  is  not 
sufficient  proof  of  authorship,  for,  as  is  well 
known,  ebenists  often  bought  metal  ornaments 

154 


Plate  LVI 


EMPIRE  ARMCHAIR.     Palace  of  Fontainebleau 


REIGN  OF  LOUIS  XVI 

already  chased  after  the  designs  of  such 
masters  as  Duplessis,  to  add  to  the  furniture 
they  had  made.  Riesener  himself  certainly 
sometimes  did  this  even  for  costly  pieces  of 
work. 

We  cannot  undertake  to  enumerate  still 
less  to  describe  his  uncontested  work,  but 
we  may  add  that  he  often  adopted  the 
chess-board  style  of  marqueterie,  the  squares 
being  filled  in  with  rose-tracery,  and  that  he 
combined  mahogany  with  Sevres  porcelain. 
During  the  Revolution  he  produced  such 
works  as  the  Tricoteuse  de  la  Reine,  belonging 
to  the  Comte  de  Camondo,  the  slender  grace  of 
which  was  already  prophetic  of  the  Empire. 
He  never  foresaw  the  overthrow  of  society,  nor 
did  he  understand  it  when  it  came — he  wanted 
to  keep  in  his  workshop  the  costly  pieces  of 
furniture  he  still  retained  when  the  monarchy 
was  overthrown,  and  even  bought  back  some 
of  his  own  work  at  the  sales  of  the  Royal 
effects,  always  hoping  that  the  good  old  times 
would  return.  His  fortune,  which  during  the 
ten  years  of  his  prosperity  had  risen  to  a 
million,  dwindled  away,  and  he — whose  first 
masterpiece  had  been  welcomed  with  acclama- 
tion throughout  France  at  the  depraved  and 
effeminate  time  when  the  youthful  Countess 
du  Barry,  with  her  little  negro  Zamor  and  the 
canary  Fifi,  was  beginning  her  reign — died  in 

155 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

comparative  poverty  the  year  of  the  Battle  of 
Jena. 

What  we  have  said  about  Riesener  borrow- 
ing copper  ornaments  of  which  he  was  not  the 
author,  to  decorate  his  furniture,  ought  not 
really  to  detract  from  his  merit.  Collaboration 
between  artists  was  a  constant  practice  in  all 
the  best  periods  of  French  furniture — indeed, 
we  may  even  say  that  it  was  the  cause  of  their 
grandeur.  It  is  a  great  mistake  on  the  part 
of  modern  artists,  and  one  much  to  be  re- 
gretted, to  suppose  that;  working  together 
diminishes  the  glory  of  each  individual.  The 
result  is  most  good  designers  restrict  them- 
selves to  the  production  of  paintings,  statues, 
plans  of  houses,  &c.,  and  look  upon  it  almost 
as  a  disgrace  to  work  side  by  side  with  some 
clever  ebenist  or  expert  chaser,  to  whom  they 
will  accord  no  rank  but  that  of  a  craftsman. 
As  long  as  artists  hold  out  for  this  senseless 
idea  of  an  aristocracy  of  art,  the  public  will 
have  to  be  content  with  reproductions  of  old 
styles  or  characterless  innovations,  and  if  this 
vanity,  like  all  other  feelings  of  the  kind,  is 
the  result  of  ignorance  of  history  and  of  the 
principles  that  govern  it,  books  such  as  this 
one  may  serve  a  further  purpose  than  merely 
to  guide  those  interested  in  their  subjects. 
Not  only  did  the  great  Reisener  borrow,  as  we 
have  seen,  from  contemporary  metal  founders 

156 


Plate  LVIF 


CHEST  OF  DRAWERS.  First  Empire.  Garde  Meuble  National^ 
Paris 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

Marie  Antoinette  in  1785.  Fortunately,  a 
good  many  examples  of  his  skill  are  pre- 
served in  the  Louvre  and  the  Wallace  collec- 
tion, proving  by  their  charming  delicacy  of 
execution  how  fitted  was  their  author  to  cater 
for  the  caprices  of  the  graceful  and  beautiful 
Queen.  Pages  would  be  filled  with  the  mere 
list  of  the  names  of  the  ebenists  and  sculptors 
who  flourished  during  the  last  years  of  the 
glories  of  the  monarchy,  and  brought  the 
Louis  XVL  style  into  high  repute.  We 
must,  however,  content  ourselves  with 
naming  Montigny,  Levasseur,  and  S^verin, 
who  imitated  the  old  motives  of  Boulle  with 
a  skill  that  has  led  to  mistakes ;  Guillaume 
Beneman,  who  was  one  of  the  first  to 
make  the  use  of  mahogany  fashionable,  and 
who  is  chiefly  famous  for  his  collaboration 
with  such  rare  masters  of  decoration  as  the 
sculptors  Haurd  and  Martin ;  the  inlayers 
Girard,  Kemp,  and  Bertrand  ;  the  chasers 
Bardin  and  Thomire ;  and  the  gilder  Galle. 

The  mention  of  Beneman  indicates  that 
the  task  of  tracing  the  evolution  of  French 
taste  is  nearing  its  conclusion.  No  doubt 
we  might  note  en  passant  certain  clumsy 
architectural  ornaments  designed  of  recent 
years,  certain  affected  freaks  in  copper,  in 
which  the  scrupulous  attention  to  trifles  of 
Gouthidre  is  mimicked  without  being  under- 
158 


Plate  LVIII 


CHEVAL-GLASS.    First  Empire.    Garde  Meuble  National,  Paris 


FOREIGN  INFLUENCES 

stood,  certain  lifeless  and  naive  imitations  of 
antique  Greek,  Roman,  and  even  Egyptian 
motives  imperfectly  comprehended;  but  these 
are  mere  mistakes  of  little  importance  which 
should  herald  a  revival,  not  a  rapid  decadence, 
such  as  that  now  about  to  take  place.  The 
necessary  men  were  there,  most  of  them  in 
the  prime  of  their  age  and  of  their  powers, 
and  it  is  the  men  who  are  the  real  factors,  in 
spite  of  fashion,  in  all  the  great  art  periods. 
All  we  have  hitherto  written  goes  to  prove 
this,  and  that  to  bring  about  the  artistic 
catastrophe  with  which  we  shall  end  this 
study,  the  extraordinary  coincidence  of  three 
historical  fatalities  —  which  we  will  name 
before  we  comment  upon  them — was  needed. 
The  first  and  least  important  was  the  in- 
vasion during  the  last  eight  years  of  the  reign 
of  Louis  XVI.  of  the  workshops  of  the 
ebenists  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine  by 
Germans,  who  came,  not,  like  Oeben  and 
Riesener,  to  learn  their  art  in  Paris,  but  to 
turn  their  national  skill  and  taste  to  account, 
by  sharing  in  the  high  prices  paid  in  France 
for  articles  of  luxury.  Unfortunately,  the 
French  Court  was  attracted  by  the  foreign 
novelties  introduced  ;  a  kind  of  art  paralysis 
ensued,  and  the  political  events  which  super- 
vened led  to  the  mischief  having  become  irre- 
parable by  the  time  a  new  and  luxurious  court 

159 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

gathered  about  the  Emperor  Napoleon  I. 
The  second  fatality  was  the  suddenness 
with  which  the  Revolution,  in  its  zeal  for 
universal  enfranchisement,  destroyed  the 
corporations  with  their  protective  privileges, 
their  stringent  rules  for  the  careful  execu- 
tion of  commissions,  and  their  regulations  as 
to  serving  a  long  and  obligatory  apprentice- 
ship to  a  trade,  before  the  right  could  be  won  of 
selling  the  work  done.  By  the  suppression  in  a 
single  sentence  of  an  institution  which,  we 
admit,  had  its  tyrannical  and  unjust  side,  the 
competition  and  rivalry  so  prolific  of  good  re- 
sults were  arrested,  and  the  salutary  collabora- 
tion of  artists  of  different  gifts  was  put  an  end 
to,  with  the  result  that  the  door  was  opened  for 
the  manufacture  of  cheap  objects  of  luxury, 
and  an  element  of  demoralisation  was  intro- 
duced from  which  the  whole  civilised  world 
is  still  suffering,  far  more  than  is  generally 
supposed.  The  case  would  not,  however, 
perhaps  have  been  so  desperate  but  for  the 
rise  of  the  Empire,  which  with  the  absorbing 
interest  of  its  magnificent  campaigns,  with- 
drew public  attention  from  the  creations  of 
artists,  and  brought  all  the  vitiated  talent 
which  had  survived  the  ancient  monarchy, 
under  the  control  of  a  single  man  of  iron 
will,  who  was  educated  during  those  years  of 
Republican  supremacy,  when  to  own  beauty 
i6o 


Plate  LIX 


JEWEL  CABINET  OF  QUEEN  MARIE  ANTOINETTE. 

Designed  by  Schwerdfeger,  Degault,  Roentgen  and  Thomire. 
Palace  of  Versailles 


EMPIRE  STYLE 

as  well    as   wealth   was   to   fall    under   the 
suspicion  of  being  an  aristocrat. 

After  Beneman,  then,  the  decline  set  in 
rapidly.  His  mahogany  coffers  would  be 
nothing  but  clumsy  chests  were  it  not  for 
the  decoration  added  to  them  by  his  French 
collaborators.  The  fellow  countrymen  who 
gathered  about  did  little  more  than  crudely 
emphasise  his  peculiar  interpretation  of  the 
pseudo-antique  style,  their  aim  being  rigidly 
to  suppress  the  affected  but  charming 
naturalism  of  the  French  school.  Joseph 
Stoekel,  Birkl6,  Charles  Richter,  Feuer- 
stein,  Peter  Schmitz,  Gaspard  Schneider, 
Frost,  Bergeman,  Blucheidner,  and  many 
others  were  favoured  by  the  Queen  because 
they  spoke  her  native  language,  but  the 
most  celebrated  of  the  foreigners  were  Weis- 
weiler,  who  worked  chiefly  at  furniture  for 
ladies'  boudoirs,  Schwerdfeger,  the  chief 
author  of  the  famous  Jewel  Cabinet  of 
Marie  Antoinette,  which  we  reproduce  here, 
and  which  would  be  at  once  assigned  to 
the  Empire  period,  without  the  lifelike 
caryatides  with  which  it  was  decorated  by 
Thomire,  and  Roentgen,  better  known  by  his 
Christian  name  of  David,  or  as  David  of 
Luneville,  although  he  really  came  from 
Neuwied,  near  Coblentz.  The  last-named 
merits  special  notice,  not  so  much  on  account 

X  i6i 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

of  his  art  talent,  as  the  position  he  and  his 
fellow  countryman  Beneman  managed  to 
obtain  at  Court.  It  is  impossible  to  help 
admiring  the  audacity  with  which  he  com- 
peted with  French  artists  of  commercial 
acumen  inferior  to  his  own,  for  he  managed 
to  be  manufacturer  of  furniture  to  the  Queen, 
and  a  member  of  the  Municipality  of  Paris, 
without  giving  up  his  workshops  at  Neuwied, 
where,  moreover,  he  spent  most  of  his  time. 

The  Revolution  put  an  almost  complete 
stop  to  the  production  of  articles  of  luxury. 
Deprived  of  commissions  from  the  royal 
family  and  the  aristocracy,  many  artists  were 
reduced  to  complete  inactivity  and  poverty ; 
others  went  abroad  to  seek  new  employers 
elsewhere  and  the  protection  France  no 
longer  accorded  to  skill  and  experience.  The 
destruction  or  dispersion  of  the  fine  examples 
of  art-work  produced  under  the  monarchy 
still  further  aggravated  the  situation.  It  is 
true  that  some  few  members  of  the  govern- 
ment made  laudable  efforts  to  have  the 
masterpieces  which  were  taken  from  the 
churches  and  palaces  preserved  as  the  most 
valuable  heirlooms  of  the  nation.  It  was  for 
this  reason  that  at  the  public  sale  of  the  effects 
of  Madame  du  Barry  two  pieces  of  furniture 
were  kept  back ;  and  Alexandre  Lenoir 
filled  the  Musde  des  Petits  Augtistins  with 
162 


EMPIRE  STYLE 

treasures,  but  nothing  could  long  prevail 
against  the  need  of  money  to  raise  armies 
with  which  to  resist  the  European  coalition. 
It  was  an  ominous  sign  of  the  times  when  a 
large  number  of  valuable  works  of  art  passed 
into  foreign  possession  under  pretext  of  their 
being  exchanged  for  arms  and  ammunition 
without  any  profit  accruing  to  the  Republic. 

Napoleon  found  but  a  small  group  of 
decorators  who  had  come  safely  through  the 
terrible  times  of  the  Revolution,  most  of 
whom,  though  they  had  not  lost  the  skill  of 
brilliant  days  gone  by,  had  ceased  to  turn  to 
nature  for  inspiration,  surrounded  as  they 
were  by  an  artificial  society,  which  aped  the 
manners  of  the  ancient  Romans  and  judged 
art  entirely  by  the  standard  of  the  painter 
David.  Those  who  tried  to  remain  faithful 
to  the  traditions  of  their  youth  died,  as 
did  Riesener,  in  obscurity.  The  rest  had  to 
adapt  themselves  to  the  taste  of  the  new 
Caesar,  who  cared  nought  for  the  ideal  or 
the  symbolic,  but  only  for  matter-of-fact,  his- 
torical records.  Prud'hon  laid  aside  his  facile 
brush  to  make  feeble  designs  for  furniture, 
and  to  keep  Thomire  supplied  with  motives 
for  reproduction  in  bronze.  The  brothers 
Jacob,  who  had  learnt  cabinet-making  from 
their  father  under  Louis  XVI.,  and  had  worked 
for  the  Convention  in  1793,  now  gavethem- 

163 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

selves  up  to  the  manufacture  of  massive 
mahogany  furniture,  that  Thomire  decorated 
with  slim  antique  gods  and  goddesses,  or 
with  palm-  and  laurel-leaves.  The  younger 
of  the  brothers  retired  in  1804,  leaving  Jacob 
Desmalter  to  inundate  France  and  Europe 
with  productions  which,  however  perfect 
from  a  technical  point  of  view,  were  alto- 
gether unpleasing  and  unsatisfactory  as 
works  of  art.  Nearly  all  the  drawings  for 
this  furniture  were  supplied  by  the  architect 
Percier  and  his  inseparable  collaborator  Fon- 
taine. Many  fine  works  bear  witness  to  the 
talent  and  refined  taste  of  these  two  masters, 
leaving  no  doubt  that  they  did  violence  to 
their  own  convictions  in  order  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  a  public  and  a  ruler,  whose  taste 
was  perverted  in  an  extraordinary  manner 
by  the  revolution  of  ideas  that  had  recently 
taken  place.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in  more 
peaceful  times,  under  a  prince  less  economical 
in  his  personal  luxuries,  they  would  have 
been  able  to  rescue  French  furniture  from 
sinking  below  the  level  of  that  produced  by 
Germans  in  the  best  time  of  the  monarchy  ; 
indeed,  one  may  even  imagine  that  their  own 
predilection  for  the  best  features  of  the 
Renaissance  might  have  led  to  a  healthy  and 
essentially  French  revival,  for  there  was  a 
tendency  amongst  the  general  public  to  revert 
164 


GOTHIC  REVIVAL 

to  the  old  national  sources  of  inspiration. 
This  is  proved  by  the  so-called  Romantic, 
that  is  to  say,  the  Gothic,  movement  which 
took  place  soon  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon, 
but  which,  so  far  at  least  as  decorative  art  was 
concerned,  did  not  result  in  a  style  with  any 
vitality,  chiefly  because  of  the  increasing  in- 
capacity of  the  craftsmen,  who  had  now  sunk 
to  the  position  of  mere  workmen,  and  also 
because  of  the  general  want  of  taste  amongst 
a  people  whose  artistic  education  had  been 
completely  neglected  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

France  still  retains  the  traditions — 
strangely  degenerate  and  unprogressive,  it  is 
true — of  the  furniture  designed  in  the 
Louis  XIV.  period.  It  is  impossible  to 
predict  when  a  decisive  movement  will  take 
place  which  will  reform,  from  an  artistic 
point  of  view,  the  decoration  of  the  home. 
It  is,  however,  certain  that  such  a  movement 
will  arise,  for  history  teaches  us  that  a 
renaissance  invariably  follows  a  decadence, 
but  she  teaches  us  also  that  great  reactions 
only  come  about  under  the  inspiration  of 
some  grand  idea  dominating  the  national 
spirit,  combined  with  a  general  conjunction 
of  all  forms  of  talent.  This  is  a  lesson  all 
might  well  take  to  heart. 

165 


USEFUL  BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE 

Adams,  G.  L.  Decorations,  Interieures  et  Meubles  des 
Epoques  Louis  XIII.  et  Louis  XIV.  loo  plates.  Fol. 
Paris,  1861. 

Alvin,  L.  J.  Les  Grandes  Armoiries  du  Due  Charles  de 
Bourgogne,  gravees  vers.     1467  plates.     8vo.     Bruxelles, 

1859. 
Androuet  Du  Cerceau,  J.      (Euvre  de  Jacques  Androuet, 

dit    Du    Cerceau,  coupes,  vases,  trophees,   cartouches, 

fleurons,   balustrades,    ferronnerie    (134    planches,   254 

sujets).     Reproduction  by  Baldus.      2  vols.     Fol.     Paris. 
Armaille,  L.  d',  Count.     Catalogue  des  Objets  d'Art  et  de 

Riche  Ameublement,  composent  la  Collection  du  Comte 

d' Armaille.    8vo.     Paris,  i8go. 
AuBERT.      Ameublement  Parisien   (Designs  for   Furniture). 

54  coloured  plates.    4to.     Paris,  1840-50. 
Berain,  J.    Omements  inventez  par  J.  B.     137  plates.     Fol. 

Paris,  c.  1670-1700. 
Bertin,  L.,  and  Compagnon,  L.    Ameublements  Complets  de 

Tous  Styles.     2  Tom.     Fol.     Dourdon,  1902. 
Beurdeley.    Bibliotheque  de  1' Ameublement.    2  Tom.     Fol. 

Dourdon,  1902. 
Beurdeley.    Catalogues  des  Bois  Sculptes  des  XVP,  XVIP 

et  XVIIP  Siecles.     Fol.     Paris,  1898. 
Blanc,  A.  A.  P.  C.    Decoration  Interieure  de  la  Maison.    8vo. 

Paris,  1882. 
BoNAFF]^,  E.     Collection  de  M.  Spitzer.      Meubles  et  Bois 

Sculptes.      "Gazette   des    Beaux- Arts,"  vol.   xxv.   p.   246. 

Paris,  1882. 
BoNAFF^,  E.  Histoire  du  Mobilier  par  A.  Jacqucmart.  "  Gazette 

des  Beaux-Arts,"  vol.  xv.    2nd  ser.    p.  51.    Paris,  1877. 

167 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

BoNAFF]^,  E.     L'Art  du  Bois.      "  L'Art,"  vol.  xix.  p.  265.      Fol. 

Paris,  1879. 
BoNAFFjg,  E.     Le  Meuble  en  France  au  XVP  Siecle.     4to. 

Paris,  1887. 
BoNAFF]^,  E.      Inventaire    des   Meubles    de    Catherine    de 

Medicis  en  1598,  Mobilier,  Sec.    8vo.     Paris,  1874. 
Garnet.    Collection  de  Sieges,  Meubles,  Tentures.    80  plates, 

Obi.  4to.     Paris,  1885. 
Champeaux,  a.  de.    Le  Meuble.    2  Tom.    i8mo.    Paris,  1885. 
Champeaux,  a.  de.  Le  Bois  applique  au  Mobilier.  Paris,  1883. 
Champier,  V.     Le  Mobilier  Moderne.     8vo.     Paris,  1883. 
Chancellor,  A.  E.    Examples  of  Old  Furniture,  English  and 

Foreign.     London,  1898. 
Davillier,  C.  Baron.     La  vente  du  Mobilier  du  Chateau  de 

Versailles,  Sec.     Paris,  1877. 
Destailleur,  F.  H.     Recueil  d'Estampes  relatives  a  I'Ome- 

mentation  des  Appartements  au  XVI«,  XVII%  et  XVIII« 

Siecles.     Gravees  en  facsimile  d'apres  les  compositions  de 

Du  Gerceau,  Lepautre,  Berain,  &c.     Fol.     Paris,  1863. 
Dilke,  Lady  E.  F.  S.     French  Furniture  in  the  Eighteenth 

Century.     4to.     London,  1901. 
Erculei,  R.     Catalogo  delle  Opere  Antiche  d'Intaglio  e  In- 

tarsio  in  Legno  esposte  nel  1885  a  Roma.    8vo.    Roma, 

1885. 
Edinburgh.  Museum  of  Science  and  Art.  List  of  Books  relating 

to  Architecture  and  Furniture.   8vo.    Edinburgh,  1888. 
FouRNiER,  E.    Le  Vieux-Neuf.     Histoire  ancienne  des  Inven- 
tions et  Decouvertes  modernes.      ('*  Furniture,"  vol.  ii.  p.  19.) 

2  vols.     i2mo.     Paris,  1859. 
French  Decorative  Furniture.      Twenty  Photographs.      Pub- 

hshed  under  the  sanction  of  the  Science  and  Art  Department. 

4to.     London,  1871. 
Garde  Meuble,  Le.    (Periodical  Publication.)    Coloured  plates. 

4to.     1872  et  seq. 

168 


USEFUL  BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE 

Gauthier,  J.     La  Sculpture  sur  Bois  en  Franche  Comte  du 

XV«  au  XVIIP  Si^cle.     8vo.     Paris,  1895. 
OuiFFREY,  J.  J.     Inventairc  du  Mobilier  de  la  Couronne  sous 

Louis  XIV.     2  pts.     8vo.     Paris,  1885. 
Hackett,  W.  H.    Decorative  Furniture  (English  and  French) 

of  the  Sixteenth,  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries. 

8vo.     London,  1902. 

Havard,  a.   L'Art  k  travers  les  Moeurs.  Imp.  8vo.    Paris,  1882. 
Havard,  H.    Dictionnaire  de  rAmeublement.    4  Tom.    4to. 

Paris,  1887-90. 
Havard,  H.     L'Art  dans  la  Maison.    8vo.    Paris,  1884. 
Havard,  H.      Les  Arts  de  I'Ameublement.      L'Ebenisterie, 

8vo.     Pa^is,  1897. 
Havard,  H.    Les  Arts  de  TAmeublement.    Les  Styles.   Paris, 

1897. 
Havard,  H.     Histoire  des  Styles,  Ameublement,  &c.     2  vols. 

Fol.     Paris,  1899. 
Havard,  H.     Les  BouUes  (Muntz,  E. :  Les  Artistes  Celebres). 

8vo.     Paris,  1903. 
Hayden,  a.    Chats  on  Old  Furniture.    A  Guide  for  Collectors. 

London,  1905. 
Inventaire  des  Meubles  du  Chateau  du  Pau.     Societe  des 

Bibliophiles.    4to.    Paris,  1892. 
Jackson,  F.  H.     Intarsia  and   Marquetry.     Handbooks  for 

the  Designer  and  Craftsman.    8vo.     London,  1903. 
Jacquemart,  a.     a  History  of  Furniture.     Edited  by  Mrs. 

Bury  Palliser.     London,  1878. 
Lacroix,  p.      English  translation,  "  The  Arts  of  the  Middle 

Ages,"  &c.    8vo.     London,  1870. 
Lacroix,    P.       Le  Moyen  Age  et  la  Renaissance  (vol.  iv. 

Ameublement  Civil  et  ReUgieux).    5  vols.     4to.     Paris, 

1848-51. 
Lacroix,  P.     Un  MobiUer  Historique  des  XVIP  et  XVIIP 

Siecles.    8vo.    Paris,  1865. 

Y  169 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

Lafond,  p.    Une  Famille  d'Ebenistes  Franfais.    Les  Jacob 

8vo.     Paris,  1894. 
Lafond,  P.    L'Art  Decoratif  et  le  Mobilier  sous  la  Republiquc 

et  I'Empire.    4to.     Paris,  1900. 
Le  Pautre,  J .    Les  Cabinets  ;  et  Livre  de  Miroirs,  Tables  et 

Gueridons.     Sm.  Fol.     Amsterdam,  1675  (?)  and  1672  (?). 
Litchfield,  F.   How  to  Collect  Old  Furniture.    8vo.    London, 

1904. 
Louis  XIV.,  XV.  and  XVI.    Furniture.    Photographs.     Port- 
folios 602,  624,  628  (South  Kensington  Museum). 
Maigne,  W.     Manuel  du  Menuisier  en  Batiments.     Encyclo- 

pedie-Roret.     i8mo.     Paris,  1822. 
MoLiNiER,  E.      Le  Mobilier  Royal  Fran^ais  aux  XVIP  et 

XVIIP  Siecles.     Fol.     Paris,  1902. 
MoLiNiER,  E.     Musee  du  Louvre.     Le  Mobilier  Franfais  du 

XVIP  et  du  XVIII^  Siecle.    4to.     Paris,  1903. 
MuLLER,  W.    Sketches  of  the  Age  of  Francis  I.    Fol.    London, 

1841. 
NoRMAND,  C.  P.  J.    Les  Arts  Decoratifs.    Chambres  et  Decora- 
tions, interieures  en  styles   anciens   (Album  de  I'Ami  des 

Monuments).     Fol.     1895. 
NosBAN.    Manuel  de  I'Ebeniste  et  du  Tabletier.    Encylopedie- 

Roret.     i8mo.     Paris,  1887. 
NosBAN.     Nouveau  Manuel  Complet  du  Menuisier,  de  I'Ebc- 

niste,  et  du  Layetier,  du  Marqueteur,  &c.  (Manuels-Roret). 

2  vols.     8vo.     Paris,  1857. 
OsLET,  G.,  and  Jeannin,  J.     Traite  de  Menuiserie.     Encyclo- 

pedie  des  Connaissances  Civiles  et  Militaires.     Partie  Civile 

1898. 
PouTiERS,  A.     La  Menuiserie.     i8mo.     Paris,  1896. 
Ris-Paquot,  O.  E.    Le  Mobilier  et  les  Objets  qui  s'y  rattachent, 

8vo.     Paris,  1893. 
Robinson,  J.   C.      Catalogue    of    the    Soulages    Collection 

exhibited  1856  (including  Italian  and  French   Renaissance 

Furniture),  with  Photos.    8vo.     London,  1856. 
170 


USEFUL  BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE 

Robinson,  V.  J.     Ancient  Furniture  and  other  Works  of  Art. 

A  Collection  by  V.  J.  Robinson.     4to.    London,  1902. 
Roe,  F.     Ancient  Coffers  and  Cupboards,  their  History  and 

Description.     4to.     London,  1902. 
RoNDOT,  N.    L'Art  du  Bois  a  Lyon  au  XV°  et  au  XVI*  Si^cle. 

8vo.     Paris,  1889. 
RouBO,  A.  J.     L'Art  de  Menuiserie.     8vo.     Paris,  1902. 
RouBO,  A.  J.     Traite  theorique  et  pratique  de  I'Ebenisterie. 

Text  and  Atlas.     Paris,  1884. 
RowE,    E.       French     Wood-Carvings     from    the    National 

Museums.     3  ser.     Fol.     London,  1896. 
Singleton,  E.   French  and  English  Furniture.   8vo.    London^ 

1904. 
South  Kensington  Museum.  Handbook  of  Jones'  Collection 

(French  Eighteenth-Century  Furniture).  8vo.  London,  1883. 
South  Kensington  Museum.     List  of  Books  on  Furniture  in 

the  National  Art  Library.     London,  1885. 
Strange,    F.    A.       Historical    Guide    to    French    Interiors. 

Furniture  and  Allied  Arts,  Seventeenth-early  Nineteenth 

Centuries.     4to.     London,  1903. 
Talleyrand-Perigord,  N.  L.  de  (Duke  of  Talleyrand).     Cata- 
logue de   Tableaux,   Objets   d'Art    et    d'Ameublement,. 

dependant  de  la  succession  de  Due  de  Talleyrand.     Fol. 

Paris,  1899. 
Teissier,  O.     Meubles  et  Costumes,  XVP-XVIII«^  Siecles. 

8vo.     Paris,  1904. 
Verchere,  J.     L'Art  du  Mobilier,  Renaissance,  Louis  XIII^ 

Louis  XIV.,  Louis  XV.,  Louis  XVI.     Fol.     Paris,  1881. 
Versailles.     Albums  des  Vues  interieures  et  exterieures  du 

Palais  de  Versailles  (Furniture).     Obi.  8vo.     Paris,  n.d. 
ViOLLET-LE-Duc,  E.  E.      Dictiounaire  Raisonne  du  Mobilier 

Fran9ais  de  I'Epoque  Carlovingienne  a  la  Renaissance* 

6  Tom.     Paris,  1858-75. 
Vitr£.    Inventaire  du  Mobilier  du  Chateau  de  Vitre.    8vo. 
Vitre,  1902. 

171 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 

Wallace  Collection.     Catalogue  of  Decorative  Furniture, 

&c.,  lent  to  Bethnal  Green  Museum  by  Sir  R.  Wallace,  Bt. 

(Louis  XIV.  to  Louis  XVL).     London,  1872. 
Wallace  Collection.  Catalogue  of  the  Furniture  in  Hertford 

House.     8vo.     London,  1905. 
Wallace,  La  Collection.    Meubles  et  Objets  d'Art  Fran9ais 

des  XVIP  et  XVIIP  Si^cles.     Par  E.  Molinier.     Fol. 

Paris,  1902. 
Williamson,  E.     Les  Meubles  d'Art  du  Mobilier  National. 

2  Tom.     Fol.     Paris,  1883. 
Wytsman,  P.    Recueil  de  Meubles  anciens  en  Belgique.     Fol. 

Bruxelles,  1899. 


172 


INDEX 


Academy  of  Painting  and  Sculp- 
ture, reference,  102 

Adrets,  the  Baron  des,  reference, 
80 

Agnes  Sorel,  reference,  46 

Aix,  wood-carving  at  St.  Sauveur, 
embodying  Gothic  and  Italian 
styles,  51 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  time  of  Charle- 
magne, the  home  of  Italian 
artists,  12 

Alba,  or  Alva,  Duke  of,  reference, 
90 

Alcove,  the  seventeenth-century, 
its  evolution  and  uses,  96 

Alcove  curtains,  reference,  123 

Aldus  Manutius,  Venice,  trade- 
mark imitated  on  tomb  in 
Chapelle  d'Oiron,  54 

Amber,  a  novelty  in  seventeenth- 
century  decoration,  89 

Amboise,  Chdteau  of,  reference,  52 

Am6  le  Picard,  huchier,  figures  at 
Brou,  executed  by,  37 

Amiens,  carvings  exhibiting  Nor- 
man influence  on  Gothic  art  at, 

36 

Amiens  Cathedral,  reference,  49 

Amyot,  Jacques,  classic  writer, 
reference,  61 

Anatolia,  or  Asia  Minor,  em- 
broideries utilised  during  seven- 
teenth century,  99 

Ancier,  Gauthiot  d',  family  alluded 

to,  73 

Andelys,  Church  of,  early  transi- 
tion work  at,  37 

Anet,  fragments  from,  in  Ecole 
des  Beaux-Arts,  58 

Anguier,  sculptor  at  Gobelins 
manufactory,  reference,  107 

Antoine,  architect  of  the  MonnaU, 
reference,  146 


Antony  of  Burgundy  (le  Grand 
Bdtard),  Dressers  in  Dijon 
Museum,  39 

Antwerp,  reference,  90 

"  Apollo  and  Daphne,"  and  "  Ap- 
ollo and  Marsyas,"  bronze  figures 
from  Boulle's  workshops,  118 

Apollo  Gallery.     See  Louvre 

Applique  copper-work,  reference, 
145 ;  ornamentation  on  Italian 
Cabinet,  87 ;  plate  lii,  148 

Arconati-Visconti  collection,  ex- 
ample from,  plate  xiii,  70,  75 

Argentelles,  Lit  de  Justice  at,  41 

Armand,  seventeenth  -  century 
workman,  117 

Arm-chair  of  copper  made  for 
Clemence  of  Hungary,  31 

Arm-chairs,  29,  42  ;  plates  iv,  50 ; 
XXVI,  84;  XLix,  146;  Lvi,  154 

Armoire :  of  the  Church  of  Oba- 
zine,  13,  14 ;  of  Cathedral  of 
Noyon,  14  ;  rules  with  regard  to 
feet,  27  ;  fifteenth-century,  43  ; 
at  Treasury  of  St.  Germain 
I'Auxerrois,  43 ;  in  Basilewski 
collection,  45 ;  at  Carnavalet 
Museum,/>/a^£XViii,  59;  descrip- 
tion of  Du  Cerceau's,  68 ;  ex- 
ample in  Arconati-Visconti  col- 
lection, plate  XIII,  70,  75  ;  sup- 
posed example  by  Sambin  at 
Besangon,  72-74 ;  sixteenth-cen- 
tury example  in  Salting  collec- 
tion, 76;  example  at  Windsor 
Castle,  118:  of  Cressent,  146. 
See  Chest,  Bahut. 

A  rmoire  de  luxe,  synonymous  with 
Henri  III.     Cabinets,  85 

Armoire  and  Secretaire  combined, 
of  Mme.  du  Barry,  150 

Arnoult,ebenist,  Louis  XV.  period, 
reference,  141 

173 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


Arras,  Synod  of,  its  allusions  to 
paintings  in  consecrated  build- 
ings, 21 

Assier,  Chdteau  of,  reference,  77 

Attila,  references,  8,  9 

Aubriot,  Hugues,  defines  duties 
of  huchiers,  26 

Audran,  engraver  at  Gobelins 
Manufactory,  107 

Augsberg,  reference,  89 

Avars,  their  ideas  of  luxury,  8 

Avignon,  schism  of,  reference,  24 

Bachelier,  Nicolas,  cabinet- 
maker of  Toulouse,  77 

Baerze,  Jacques  de,  Flemish  de- 
signer of  Dijon  reredoses,  36,  38 

Bahut,  huche  or  armoire,  description 
and  uses,  15  ;  sole  piece  of  furni- 
ture in  fourteenth  century,  27 ; 
used  at  coronation  of  Philip  V., 
29 ;  gorgeous  in  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, 31.     See  Armoire,  Chest 

Baldachino,  evolution  from  fif- 
teenth-century canopy,  35 

Ball,  John,  quoted,  40 

Bancs-de-taille,  fourteenth -century 
benches,  32 

Bardac  collection,  fifteenth-cen- 
tury table  in,  41 

Bardin,  chaser,  reference,  158 

Baronniere,  Paul  Gougeon  de  la, 
gilder,  reference,  114 

Barthelemy,  Abbe  Jean  Jacques, 
reference,  145 

Bas  d'armoire,  lower  portion  of 
commode,  100 

Basilewski  collection,  fifteenth- 
century  dresser  in,  45 

Baumgartner,  Ulrich,  ebenist,  his 
cabinet  at  Berlin,  89 

Bayard,  the  Chevalier,  reference, 
60 

Bayer,  Frangois,  artist,  Louis  XV. 
period,  141 

Beaulieu  les  Loches,  panels  ex- 
emplifying development  of  Re- 
naissance style,  at,  52 

174 


Beauvais  Cathedral,  doorway  of, 

59 

Becu,  Jeanne.     See  Du  Barry 

Beds :  Lit  de  Justice  at  Argentelles, 
41 ;  description  of  Du  Cerceau's, 
69,  plate  XII  A,  68;  example  in 
Cluny  Museum,  95 ;  Bed  of  Duke 
Antoine  de  Lorraine,  plate  xi, 
66 

Bed  -  draperies  introduced  by 
Italians,  98 

Bellin,  jeweller.  Gobelins  Manu- 
factory, 108 

Belleville,  Madame  de  Pompa- 
dour's chateau  at,  reference,  132 

Beneman,  Guillaume,  introduces 
mahogany,  158 ;  his  mahogany 
coffers,  161  ;  his  commercial 
acumen,  162 

Berain,  Claude,  engraver,  refer- 
ence, log 

Jean,  designer  at  Gobelins 

Manufactory,  references, 
108,  109,  116,  128 

Bergeman,  follower  of  Beneman, 
161 

Berlin  Museum  of  Industrial  Art, 
cabinet  of  Baumgartner  at,  90 

Bernard,  Samuel,  financier,  patron 
of  Boulle,  119 

artist,   Louis    XV.    period, 

141 

Bernini,  Italian  artist,  136 

Berri,  Due  de,  leather  "  room  " 
described,  31 ;  splendour  of  his 
court,  39 

Bertrand,  inlayer,  reference,  158 

Besangon  Museum,  table  and  ar- 
moire  at,  72 

Biblioth^que  Mazarin,  Chest  of 
Drawers  by  Boulle,^/^^^  xxx,i04 

Bibliotheque  Nationale,  examples 
at,  II,  136,  138,  146 

Blanche  of  Bourbon,  her  throne, 

32 
Blanche  de   Mortain,   Abbey  of, 
examples     to    be    dated    with 
caution,  37 


INDEX 


Blois,  Chateau  of,  reference,  39 

Loir-et-Cher,  reference,  79 

Blucheidner,  follower  of  Beneman, 
161 

Boizot,  Louis  Simon,  sculptor,  157 

Boniface  VIII.,  Pope,  reference, 
24 

Bonnivet,  G.  G.,  French  admiral, 
reference,  62 

"  Book  of  Architecture,"  designs 
by  Du  Cerceau,  reference,  67 

**  Book  of  Mathematical  Imple- 
ments," by  Du  Cerceau,  reter- 
ence,  67 

Bookcase  in  the  possession  of 
Comte  de  Castellane,  typical 
example,  Louis  XVI.  style,  145 

Bordoni,  Francesco,  Italian  crafts- 
man, 92 

Bosse,  Abraham,  engravings  by, 
93-95  ;  references,  98,  123 

Bouchardon,  Edme,  sculptor,  re- 
ference, 144 

Boucher,  Frangois,  references,  133, 
149 

Boudin,  L.,  artist,  Louis  XV. 
period,  141 

BouUe,  Andr6  Charles,  ebenist. 
Gobelins  Manufactory,  noted 
for  use  6f  tortoise-shell  plaques, 
86 ;  misconceptions  with  regard 
to  his  work,  115,116;  his  superior 
merit,  117  ;  some  examples,  118; 
references,  108,  124,  135,  145, 
152,  158  ;  Chest  of  Drawers  by, 
plate  XXX,  104 

Boulle,  Pierre,  decorator,  Louis 
XIII.  period,  84 

BouUognes,  the  two,  painters, 
Gobelins  Manufactory,  107 

Bourges,  seat  of  Dukes  of  Berri, 

39 
Boy  Collection,  example  of  school 

of  Sambin  in,  plate  xvi,  72 
Brach,   Mme.,   R^gence    table  in 

collection,  plate  xxxiv,  126 
Bramante,       d'Urbino,       Italian 

painter,  66 


Branchi,  Italian  craftsman,  92, 
107 

Bret^che  Collection,  Louis  XV. 
Console,  plate  xxxix,  130 

Breughels,  Flemish  craftsmen, 
their  cabinets,  91 

Bronze,  its  use  suggested  by  Italian 
cabinets,  86 

Brou,  Church  of,  late  example  of 
Gothic  style,  36 

Buccleuch,  Duke  of,  his  Bavarian 
Cabinet  by  Boulle,  118 

Bud6,  Guillaume,  French  scholar, 
reference,  61 

Buffets,  recorded  in  fourteenth 
century,  32 

Buffon,  Comte  de,  presented  with 
two  cabinets  by  Cucci,  112 

Bureau  fits  origin  and  development, 
99  ;  example  by  Oppenordt,  117; 
example  by  Cressent,  135 ;  ex- 
ample by  Caffieri,  139  ;  many 
Louis  XVI.  examples  really  of 
earlier  inspiration,  146;  example 
in  Jones  collection,  152  ;  Grand 
Bureau  du  Roi  by  Riesener  and 
Oeben,  152 :  Riesener's  cylin- 
drical Bureau,  153 

Burgundii,  Gaul  invaded  by,  8 

Burgundy,  references,  38,  66 

Duchesses  of,  Ivory  Caskets 

in  Dijon  Museum,  39 

Duke  of,  references,  31,  36, 

38,48,  60,  117 

Cabinets:  BouUe's  Bavarian,  118; 
Medal  Cabinet  by  Slodtz,  plate 
xLv,  138;  140;  Cabinet  of  Medal, 
by  Cressent,  146  ;  Cabinet  for 
Medals  by  Joubert,  146  ;  Cabinet 
des  Estampes  for  the  Minist^re 
de  la  Marine,  by  Slodtz,  146 ; 
their  lavish  decoration,  85;  of 
Spanish  origin  at  South  Ken- 
sington, 88  ;  of  German  fabrica- 
tion, 89  ;  of  Flemish  origin,  91 ; 
rage  for,  during  reign  of  Henri 
III.,   85;   by  Oppenordt,  117; 

175 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


Cabinets — contd. 

Louis  XIV.  period  in  Louvre 
and  Wallace  collections,  ii8  ;  of 
Cucci,  Louis  XIV.,  112 

Caboche,  the  revolutionary 
butcher,  reference,  40 

Cadot,  Jacques,  carpenter,  em- 
ployed by  Louis  XL,  47 

Caffieri,  Filippo,  introduced  by 
Mazarin  to  Louis  XIII.,  92; 
some  account  of  his  avocations, 
113;  references,  107,  iii,  114, 
138 

Caffieri,  Jacques,  takes  up  the 
Rocaille  style,  139;  references, 
129,  138,  147,  153;  Louis  XV. 
Commode  by,  plate  xliii,  138 

Caifieri,  Jean  Jacques,  second  son 
of  Jacques,  author  of  bust  of 
Rotrou,  139  ;  reference,  140 

Caffieri,  Philippe,  third  son  of 
Jacques,  138,  139,  147 

Callot,  Jacques,  engraver,  93 

Calvin,  represented  on  miserere,  78 

Camondo,   Comte  de,    reference, 

155 

Canopy,  replaced  by  Baldichino 
in  fifteenth  century,  35 ;  in  in- 
ventory of  MoHere's  effects,  122 

Carlin,  Martin,  worker  in  lacquer, 

157, 158 

Carnavalet  Museum,  Chest,  six- 
teenth century,  59 ;  plate  xviii,  74 ; 
Louis  XV.  CohsoIq, plat6  xxxviii, 
128 

Carpi,  De.    See  Seibecq 

Carreaux,  hassocks  used  instead  of 
chairs  in  fourteenth  century,  28 

Castellane,  Comte  de,  his  book- 
case characteristic  of  Louis  XVI. 
style,  145 

Castelnau,  Michel  de,  records 
f^tes  of  Catherine  de  Medici,  79 

Castile,  King  of  (Peter  the  Cruel), 
reference,  32 

Caylus,  Comte  de,  reference,  144 

Certosina,  Italian  paste  moulding 
process,  51 

176 


Chabot,  Leonor,  employs  Hugues 
Sambin,  70 

Chabriere- Aries,  M.,  sixteenth-cen- 
tury chair,  plate  x,  64 

Chairs  :  fourteenth  century,  29 ; 
fifteenth  century,  38 ;  seventeenth 
century,  95  ;  plates  iv,  50 ;  v,  52  ; 
VI,  53  ;  X,  64  :  XXV,  82  ;  xxvi,  84  ; 
XXVII,  84 ;  xLix,  146 ;  lvi,  154 

Chaise  Dieu,  choir-stalls  of,  25 

Chambranles,  by  Oppenordt,  117 

Chantilly  :  panels  at,  57 ;  examples 
of  Martin  lacquer- work  at,  133 

Chappey  collection,  Regence  Cup- 
board, plate  xxxii,  126 

Charlemagne,  his  three  wonderful 
tables,  12  ;  reference,  19 

Charles  IV.,  his  thrones,  32 

Charles  V.,  inclined  to  luxury  and 
display,  29 ;  employs  cabinet- 
makers at  the  Louvre,  32 

Charles  VI.,  his  love  of  luxury,  29  ; 
his  gorgeous  robe,  33 ;  references, 
36,  38,  39,  46 

Charles  VII.,  references,  39,  46 

CharlesVIII., luxury  characteristic 
of  his  period,  48 ;  effects  of  war 
with  Italy  on  Gothic  art,  49; 
employs  carpenters,  52;  effects 
of  his  reign,  60 

Charles  IX.,  French  life  during  his 
reign,  78  ;  references,  79,  80 

Charles  the  Bald,  reference,  19 

Charles  the  Rash,  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, references,  48,  60 

Charlieu  (Loire),  Church  of,  ex- 
amples of  transition  period  to 
be  classified  with  caution,  37 

Charolais,  Madame  de,  her  "  dres- 
ser "  less  magnificent  than  that 
of  her  daughter  the  Duchess,  44 

Chartres  Cathedral :  its  relation  to 
Gothic  art,  49 

Chdteaudun,  Church  of  the  Made- 
leine, examples  of  transition 
period,  37 

Chests:  fourteenth  century,  29; 
fifteenth    century,    43;    renais- 


INDEX 


Chests — contd, 
sance  period,  59;  Empire  style 
of  Beneman,  161 ;  plates  i,  36; 
IX,  6a  ;  XVIII,  74 ;  xxi,  y6 ;  xxiv, 
80;  XXVIII,  86;  XXIX,  90;  xxxi, 
104.     See  Armoire 

Chests  of  Drawers,  plates  xxx,  104  ; 
XXXVI,  126  ;  XLiv,  140  ;  lvii,  156 

Cheval-Glass,  First  Empire,  plate 
Lviii,  158 

Chinese  style,  due  to  Mazarin,i29 ; 
its  capricious  methods,  129 ; 
Regency  ebenists  inspired  by, 
130 ;  lacquer-work,  124,  130, 
132 

Choir-stalls,  originality  of  early 
examples,  16;  examples  in  Poi- 
tiers Cathedral,  17;  in  Notre 
Dame  de  la  Roche,  ib. ;  in 
Lisieux  Cathedral,  25;  at  Chaise 
Dieu,  25;  at  St.  Saturnin, 
Toulouse,  77 ;  references,  35, 
67 

Choquet,  Claude,  artist,  Louis  XV. 
period,  141 

Church  furniture,  its  remarkable 
development  in  early  periods,  16 

Cicero,  TuUius,  reference,  10 

Clemence  of  Hungary,  her  arm- 
chair, 31 

"Clemency  of  Alexander,"  by  Le 
Brun,  reference,  104 

Clotaire,  King,  at  Soissons,  receives 
silver  dish  from  Thierry  of  Metz, 
10 

Clotaire  II.  chooses  St.  Eloi  to 
make  his  throne,  1 1 

Clovis,  reference,  10 

Cluny  Museum,  examples  at,  28, 
42,  43»  53.  54.  87,  95;  plates, 
frontispiece  ;  i,  36 ;  ix,  62  ;  xv, 
72  ;  XXV,  82  ;  xxvi,  84  ;  xxix,  90 

Coblentz,  reference,  161 

Cochin,  Charles  Nicolas,  engraver, 
opponent  of  rocaille  style,  144 

Coffers,  fifteenth-century,  their 
number  suggestive  of  plebeian 
origin,  42 


Colbert,  Jean  B.,  founds  Gobelins 
Manufactory  loi ;  adverse  to 
application  of  democratic  prin- 
ciples to  art,  102 ;  his  lofty  ideals, 
103  ;  fortunate  in  collaborating 
with  Le  Brun,  103,  104  ;  refer- 
ences, 105,  114,  126 

Coligny,  Admiral,  his  assassina- 
tion, reference,  79 

College  of  France,  an  offshoot  of 
College  of  the  Three  Languages, 
61 

College  of  the  Three  Languages, 
its  foundation  by  Francis  I.,  61 

Cologne,  Elector  of,  a  patron  of 
BouUe,  119 

Colonna,  Francesco,  his  "  Strife 
of  Love  as  seen  in  a  Dream 
by  Poliphilo,"  reference,  54 

Comedie-Fran9aise,  Rotrou's  bust 
at,  139 

Commode^  a  development  of  the 
bureau,  100 ;  example  by  BouUe 
in  Mazarin  Library,  118  ;  ex- 
ample by  Cressent  in  Wallace 
Collection,  131,  134,  138 ;  plate 
xxxiii,  126 ;  description  of  Cres- 
sent's  Commodes,*  1 35  ;  example 
by  Jacques  Caffieri  in  Wallace 
Collection, /i/a^^  xliii,  138;  139; 
lost  example  belonging  to  Du 
Barry,  149,  150 

Compiegne,  Palace  of,  examples 
a.i,  plates  v.  52;  vi,  53 

*'  Comptes  de  I'Argenterie,"  refer- 
ences, 28,  31 

"  Comptes  des  Bdtiments  du  Roi," 
references,  58,  112,  113,  130 

Conde, Louis,  Prince  de,  assassina- 
tion at  Jarnac,  reference,  79 

Consoles  J  by  J.  and  A.  le  Pautre,  at 
Versailles,  109;  plates  xxxviii, 
128;  xxxix,  130;  Liii,  150 ;  LIV, 
150 

Constantinople,  references,  39,  64 

Cordovan  Chambers,  fourteenth- 
century  "  rooms "  made  of 
leather,  30 

177 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


Corner  Cupboards  of  Great  Bureau 
in  Jones  collection,  authorship 
considered,  152;  example  by 
Joubert,  140;  plate  x-li,  134 

Correggio,  designs  used  by  Flemish 
craftsmen,  91 

Corr^ze,  department  of,  reference, 

13 

Cosimo,  Andrea  di,  reference,  64 

Cotte,  Robert  de,  architect,  Louis 
XIV.  period,  128,  134,  139 

Couch,  or  Lit  a  la  duchesse,  intro- 
duced Louis  XIV.  period,  124 

Cousin,  Jean,  historical  painter, 
reference,  64 

Coypel,  Noel  and  Antoine,  painters 
under  Le  Brun,  107 

Coysevox,  Antoine,  sculptor,  Go- 
belins Manufactory,  107,  149 

Cressent,  Charles,  his  taste,  skill 
and  talents,  133, 134, 135  ;  faults 
exaggerated  by  pupils,  136; 
Slodtzs  inspired  by,  137 ;  his 
Commode  in  Wallace  Collection, 
plate  xxxiu,  126;  131,  138;  Cup- 
board by,  plate  xxxii,  126  ;  a  fol- 
lower of  Boulle,  145 ;  references, 
152,  153 

"  Cris  de  Paris,  Metiers,"  by 
Abraham  Bosse,  reference,  94 

Crozat,  private  patron  of  Boulle, 
119 

Crusades,  their  influence  on  feudal 
nobles,  22  ;  reference,  60 

Cucci,  Domenico,  Italian  ebenist, 
introduced  by  Mazarin  to  Louis 
XIII.,  92  ;  at  the  Gobelins,  107 ; 
mentioned  in  lines  by  MaroUes, 
III;  noteworthy  examples  of, 
ib.;  makes  locks  and  window 
bolts,  112;  his  cabinets,  ib.;  his 
daughter,  mother  of  the  brothers 
Slodtz,  137;  references,  114, 
116 

Cupboards,  fifteenth -century,  plate 
II,  44;  sixteenth-century, /fOM^is- 
piece;  example  by  Sambin,  plate 
XIII,  70 ;  sixteenth-century,  plate 

178 


Cupboards — contd. 

xiv;  72 ;  example  by  Cressent, 
plate  xxxii,  126;  Louis  XV. 
period, /i/a^^  xLi,  134 

Dagobert  I.  befriends  St.  Eloi, 
11;  his  arm-chair,  13,  18 

Dais,  mentioned  in  fourteenth- 
century  accounts,  32 

Damascening  process,  idea  sug- 
gested by  Italian  cabinets,  87; 
reference,  59 

Dauphin,  the  ("  Monseigneur  "), 
furniture  chiefly  made  by  Boulle, 
119,  120;  luxuriousness  of  his 
rooms,  ib. ;  apartments  de- 
corated by  Martin,  132 

Dauphine,  Madame  la,  reference, 
120 

Dautriche,  Jacques,  artist,  Louis 
XIV.  period,  141 

David,  Jacques  Louis,  painter,  re- 
ference, 163 

David  of  Luneville,  or  Roentgen, 
Empire  period,  his  commercial 
acumen,  162  ;  jewel  cabinet 
partly  designed  by,  plate  lix,  160 

Decadence  at  close  of  eighteenth 
century,  and  events  which  led 
thereto,  159;  suggestive  of  a 
future  Renaissance,  165 

Degault,  jewel  cabinet  partly  de- 
signed by,  plate  lix,  160 

Dello  Delli,  reference,  64 

Delorme,  artist.  Regency  and 
Louis  XV.  periods,  141 

Denis,  Louis,  craftsman,  Louis 
XIV.  period,  117 

Denizot,  Pierre,  artist.  Regency 
and  Louis  XV.  periods,  141 

Desks :  Regence,  Louvre  Museum, 
plate  xxxv,  126;  example  by 
Riesener,  plate  xlviii,  144 ;  ex- 
ample by  Weisweiler,  plate  lv, 
152 

Desmalter,  Jacob,  Empire  period, 
productions  perfect,  but  inar- 
tistic, 164 


INDEX 


Diana  of  Poitiers,  reference,  59 

Dijon,  residence  of  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, 38;  name  of  gifted 
carvers  in  the  Cathedral,  25 ; 
works  at  Chambre  des  Roqu^tes 
superintended  by  Sambin,  70 ; 
door  of  Archives  by  Sambin,  70, 
72 ;  work  by  Sambin  at  Palais 
de  Justice,  70,  72 ;  references, 
65,76 

Dijon  Museum,  examples  at,  36, 
38,  39 ;  table  by  Sambin,  plate 
XX,  76 

Dinanderie,  derivation  of  term,  31 

Dining-tables,  made  for  Jeanne  of 
Burgundy,  31 

Directeur- General  des  Batiments 
du  Roi,  post  obtained  by  brother 
of  Madame  de  Pompadour,  144 

Directory  style,  a  deceptive  title, 
127 

Dol  Cathedral,  fourteenth-cen- 
tury workers  at,  25 

Dole,  rood-loft  of  church  designed 
by  Sambin,  71 

Domestic  furniture,  fifteenth-cen- 
tury examples,  except  beds, 
numerous,  37;  utility  exceeded 
by  ornament  in  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, 80;  simplified  in  seven- 
teenth century,  96  ;  influence  of 
Louis  XIV.  upon,  124 

Donatello,  sculptor,  reference,  64 

Dossier  J  The,  in  Henry  II.  beds, 
69 ;  reference,  95 

Drap  de  bure,  forerunner  of  the 
bureau,  100 

Drapery,  covering  furniture  with, 
a  fifteenth-century  custom,  98 

*' Dressers,"  probably  developed 
from  the  huche  or  bahutj  15;  four- 
teenth-century, 32;  made  for 
Antony  of  Burgundy,  39 ;  of 
Mme.  de  Charolais  and  her 
daughter,  44 ;  example  in  Basi- 
lewski  collection,  45  ;  examples 
by  Du  Cerceau,  plate  xii,  68; 
of  Henry  IV.  period,  72 ;  ex- 


"  Dressers" — conid. 

ample  in  Soulages  collection, 
76  ;  reference,  67 ;  plates  vii,  54  ; 
XIX,  76;  XXII,  78  ;  XXIII,  80 

Du  Barry,  Madame  (Jeanne  Been), 
finest  period  of  Louis  XVI.  style 
during  her  lifetime  as  favourite, 
143,  147  ;  some  of  her  charac- 
teristics, 147 ;  chooses  Gou- 
thiere  as  designer  and  decora- 
tor, 147;  names  of  some  pieces 
made  for  her,  149 ;  many  pieces 
now  lost,  150;  some  ebenists 
who  worked  at  her  chdteaux, 
157;  references,  153,  155,  162 

Du  Bellay,  Cardinal,  his  time 
characterised  by  prodigality,  79 

Dubois,  J.,  artist.  Regency  and 
Louis  XVI.  periods,  141 

Du  Cerceau,  Jacques  Androuet, 
his  engravings,  65,  66 ;  dresser 
and  bed,  plates  xii,  xiia,  68  ; 
his  beds  and  tables,  69 ;  com- 
pared with  Sambin,  71 ;  his 
influence  manifest  in  dresser, 
Soulages  collection,  76;  his 
square  tables,  95  ;  references, 
70,  72,  75,  77,  83,  109;  cup- 
board,/w«^J5/>j^c^  ;  dresser,  plate 

XIX 

Duchesse,  Madame  la,  daughter  of 
Madame  de  Charolais.  See 
Charolais. 

Dugourc,  Jean  Denis,  architect, 
reference,  148 

Duplessis,  sculptor,  Louis  XVI. 
period,  references,  152,  155 

Dutel,  jeweller.  Gobelins  Manu- 
factory, reference,  107 

Duvaux,  artist,  Regency  and  Louis 
XV.  period,  141 

Earliest  known  examples,  pulpit 
of  St.  Radegund;  Armoire, 
Church  of  St.  Obazine,  13 

EbenisteSj  or  menuisiers  en  ebene^ 
origin  of  term,  87 ;  now  applied 
generally,  ib. ;    adopt  Chinese 

179 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


Ebenistes — contd . 

style  in  eighteenth  century,  131; 
dominated  by  decorative  sculp- 
ture during  Louis  XV.  period, 
140;  Louis  XVI.  style  antici- 
pated by  early  workers,  146; 
very  numerous  during  Louis 
XVL  period,  158;  invasion  of 
craft  by  Germans,  1 59 ;  refer- 
ences, 89,92,  107,  108,  III,  112, 
115,  133,134,  139,  150,  151,  154, 
156,  157 

Ebony,  carving  studied  in  Hol- 
land by  French  workmen,  83  ; 
used  for  cabinets  beginning 
of  seventeenth  century,  86 ; 
references,  31,  91,  99,  n? 

Ebony  and  marqueterie  work, 
not  necessarily  work  of  special 
artists,  117;  reference,  120 

Ecclesiastical  influence  on  art, 
19,  24 

Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts,  fragments 
from  Anet  at,  59 

Ecole  Militaire,  Louis  XVL  style 
anticipated  by  Gabriel,  146 

Ecouen,  Chateau  of,  panels  pro- 
bably of  Italian  origin,  57 

Edict  of  Nantes,  reference,  108 

Effiat,  Ch^eau  of,  bed  in  Cluny 
Museum,  95 

Elbow-rests  of  choir-stalls,  sub- 
jects frequently  profane,  25,  35 

Elysee,  Palace  of  the,  chair,  Louis 
XIII.,  plate  xxvii,  84;  sofa, 
Louis  XVL,  plate  li,  146 

Empire,  style  so-called,  the  same 
as  that  of  Louis  XIV.  period, 
127;  rise  foreshadowed  in  Rie- 
sener's  "Tricoteuse  de  la  Reine," 
155;  its  effects  on  the  art,  160, 
161 ;  first  Empire  examples. 
Cheval-glass,  plate  lviii,  158  ; 
chest  of  drawers,  plate  lvii,  156 ; 
arm-chair,  ^/a;<5  lvi,  154;  jewel 
cabinet,  plate  lix,  160;  161 

EspagnoletteSf  of  Cressent,  134; 
after  Watteau,  136 

180 


Estienne,  Robert  (Robert  Ste- 
phens), printer  to  Francis  I., 
reference,  61 


Falconnet,  sculpture  among  Du 
Barry  effects  by,  149 

Felibien,  "  Description  Sommaire 
de  Versailles,"  quoted,  119 

Feuerstein,  artist,  Empire  period, 
161 

Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  re- 
ference, 62 

Fifteenth  Century,  Gothic  tra- 
ditions preceding,  included  in 
term,  34;  its  demoralisation  and 
love  of  luxury,  40, 48;  Examples, 
plates  I,  36  ;  11,  44;  in,  46 

"Figures  au  Naturel  tant  des 
Vetements  que  des  Postures  des 
GardesFrangaises,"  byAbraham 
Bosse,  reference,  94 

Filleul,  artist.  Regency  and  Louis 
XV.  period,  141 

Flamboyant  style,  development 
best  studiedby  Church  carvings, 
35 ;  example "  at  Beaulieu  les 
Loches,  52 

Flemings,  fourteenth  -  century 
wood-carvers,  25 

Florence,  Republic  of,  reference, 
40 

Floris,  or  De  Vriendt,  his  Flemish 
cabinets,  91 

Folding  screen,  example  among 
Moliere's  effects,  124 

Fontaine,  designer.  Empire  style, 
164 

Fontainebleau,  panels  at,  58  ;  its 
prodigality  under  Catherine  de 
Medici,  62,  79 ;  references,  71, 
104  ;  examples  at,  plate  xxviii, 
86;  plate  lvi,  154 

Footstools,  fourteenth  -  century, 
32 

Foreign  influence,  Frankish  Kings, 
10  ;  Romans,  6 ;  foreign  artists 
and  craftsmen,  82-92,  99,  159 


INDEX 


Foreign  styles,  their  characteris- 
tics, 84 

Fornova,  battle  of,  reference,  52 

Foule,  Edmond,  panels  at  Argen- 
telles  belonging  to,  41 

Fouquet,  Nicolas,  employs  Le 
Brun  at  Vaux,  104 

Fourteenth  century,  24 ;  articles 
in  use  during,  27  ;  characterised 
by  ostentation  without  regard 
to  comfort,  33 

Fragonardjjean  Honor^,  paintings 
by,  among  Du  Barry  effects, 
149 

France,its  early  state  of  barbarism, 
19 ;  inordinately  luxurious  in 
fifteenth  century,  48 

Francis  I.,  development  of  Renais- 
sance style,  55  ;  transformation 
into  Henry  II.  style,  56;  Italian 
style  developed,  57  ;  his  services 
to  art  and  letters,  61 ;  prodi- 
gality, 62  ;  references,  60,  63, 71, 
plate,  XV,  72 

Francks,  Flemish  craftsmen  in- 
fluenced by  Italy,  91 

Franks,  or  Franci,  their  invasion 
of  Gaul,  8  ;  love  of  display,  10 

Fredegarius,  Scholasticus,  alludes 
to    enormous    treasure    of   the 
Goths,  8 
French  artistic  characteristics,  2, 

56,91.93.  102,  127 
Frost,  artist,  Empire  period,  161 


Gabriel,  Jacques,  architect,  his 
Garde-Meuble,  146  ;  Ecole  Mili- 
taire,  ib. ;  reference,  148 

Gaillon,  Chateau  of,  examples  at, 

53,54 
"Galeries  du  Palais,"  by  Bosse, 

reference,  94 
Galle,    gilder,    collaborator   with 

Beneman,  158 
GalUc  furniture,  now  untraceable, 

5 
Gallo-Roman  period,  5,  6 


Garde-Meuble  National, reference, 
146;  examples  at,  plates  xxii, 
78  ;  Liii,  150  ;  Lvii,  156;  Lviii, 
158 

Gamier,  Pierre,  artist.  Regency 
and  Louis  XV.  period,  141 

Gassicourt,  transition  work  at,  37 

Gaudreaux,  ebenist,  Louis  XV. 
period,  140 

Gaul,  state  at  Roman  period,  5  ; 
transformation  of  its  domestic 
art,  9 

Gauls,  effects  of  subjugation  on 
domestic  arts,  5,  6 

"  Gedanken  uber  die  Nachahmung 
der  Griecheschen  Werken,"  by 
Abbe  Barthdlemy,  reference,  145 

Genouilhac,  Galiot  de,  his  tomb 
by  Bachelier,  77 

Germain,  Thomas,  sculptor  and 
chaser,  137 

German  cabinets,  their  chief  merit, 
89 

Germani,  Gaul  invaded  by,  8 

"  Geschichte  der  Kunst  des  Alter- 
thnms,"  by  Winckelmann,  re- 
ference, 145 

Geymuller,  M.  de,  biographer  of 
du  Cerceau,  quoted,  66 

Giacetti,  Luigi,  ItaUan  craftsman, 
92,  107 

Gilbert  le  Chasublier,  fourteenth- 
century  artisan,  31 

Gillet,  artist.  Regency  and  Louis 
XV.  period,  141 

Gillot,  master  of  Watteau,  re- 
ferences, 128,  133,  136 

Girard  of  Orleans,  some  of  his 
commissions,  32 

Girard,  inlayer.  Empire  period, 
158 

Glaber,  Raoul,  French  chronicler, 
quoted,  20 

Gladbach,  birthplace  of  Riesener, 

151 
GobeHns  Manufactory,  its  founda- 
tion, loi  ;  aided  by  Louis  XIV., 
103 ;  LeBrun  appointed  director, 

181 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


Gobelins  Manufactory — contd. 
104  ;  some  painters  and  ebenists 
under  Le  Brun,  107;  references, 
105,  no,  113,  114,  123,  126 

Golle,  or  Goller,  Pieter,  Dutch 
ebenist,  92,  112 

Gonzaga,  Maria,  Queen  of  Poland, 
reference,  87 

Gothic  art  and  architecture,  re- 
ferences, 20,  34,  35,  36,  49,  51, 
53>  165 

Goths  invade  Gaul,  8 

Goudouin,  Jacques,  architect,  157 

Gouffier,    Guillaume,    his    tomb, 

54 

Goujon,  Jean,  sculptor,  Francis  I. 
period,  64,  71,  76 

Gouthiere,  chosen  by  Du  Barry  as 
designer  and  decorator,  148,149, 
150,  157,  158  ;  Applique  by,  plate 
Lii,  148 

Grand  Bureau  de  Roi,  by  Riesener, 
152,  153 

*'  Grand  Monarque  "  and  "  Grand 
Roi."     See  Louis  XIV. 

Grandjean  collection,  example 
from,  pla/e  lii,  148 

Gravelot,  H.  F.  B.,  artist  and  en- 
graver, 133 

Greffuhle  collection,  example  in, 
plnte  xLi,  134 

Gregory  of  Tours,  St.,  alludes  to 
Goths,  8 

Greuze,  Jean  Baptiste,  painter, 
reference,  149 

Grobois,  Jean,  cabinet-maker,  re- 
ference, 32 

Gtiadamacillas, gilded  leather  hang- 
ings from  Spain,  87 

Guesnon,  artist.  Regency  and 
Louis  XV.  period,  141 

Guillaume  of  Marcilly,  fourteenth- 
century  wood-carver,  25 

Guise,  Francois  de,  reference,  80 

Guise,  Henry,  Duke  of,  his  assas- 
sination, 79 

Guitton-Morvaux,  revolutionary 
delegate,  reference,  92 

182 


Gutenberg,  Johan,  printer,  refer- 
ence, 61 

Hainofer,  Philippe,  architect- 
painter,  89 

Hamilton  collection,  Bavarian 
Cabinet  in,  118 

Hanemann,  German  craftsman,  84 

Haure,  sculptor,  reference,  158 

Hebert,  artist,  Regency  and  Louis 
XV.  period,  141 

Hedouin,  J.  B.,  artist,  reference, 
141 

Hennequin  of  Antwerp,  carver,  re- 
ference, 26 

Henri  H.,  and  second  half  of  six- 
teenth century,  63 ;  French 
life  under,  78 ;  references, 

58,59 

Style,  its  development,  56 ; 

outcome  of    Renaissance, 
63 ;  final  nationalisation  o£ 
Italian  principles,  63  ;    as- 
sisted by  Du  Cerceau  and 
Sambin,  65,  68;  references, 
71.94,  123 
Henri  HI.,  French  life  under,  78  ; 
predominance  of  foreigners,  82  ; 
Italianism    encouraged   by   de- 
mand for  cabinets,   85  ;   refer- 
ence, 26 
Henri  IV.,  collapse  of  Du  Cerceau 
school,  72*,  national  feeling  sub- 
jected to  foreign  influence,  82  ; 
attempts  to  encourage  art  ap- 
parently abortive,  83  ;  originates 
the  term  ^^menuisiers  en  ebene" 
86  ;  remarks  on  encouragement 
of  art,  91  ;  influence  of  Calvin- 
ism  under,   96  ;   his  simplicity 
and    contempt   for    show,    97; 
Gobelins     Manufactory     deve- 
loped from  his  idea,  loi ;  refer- 
ences, 76, 105,113 
Herculaneum,  effects  of  discovery, 

144 
Hervieux,  collaborator  with  Rie- 
sener, 152 


INDEX 


"  History  of  Louis  XIV.,"  medal- 
lions from  Boulle's  workshop,  1 18 

Holland,  influence  of  its  skilled 
craftsmen,  go 

Honnecourt,  Villard  de,  his  draw- 
ings, 1 8 

Huchier^  term  denoting  ancient 
corporation  of  carpenters,  15  ; 
aided  by  clergy,  16  ;  commemo- 
rated by  carved  figure  at  Poi- 
tiers, 18  ;  distinguished  from 
ordinary  carpenters,  26  ;  early 
rules,  ib. ;  two  celebrated  mem- 
bers, 37;  references,  18,  36 

Huet,  painter,  Regency  and  Louis 
XV.  period,  133 

Huns,  their  invasion  of  Gaul,  8 

Ile  de  France  school,  references, 
66,  72 

Indre-et- Loire  Prefecture,  ex- 
ample at,  plate  xliv,  140 

Intarsia  pittoric,  Italian  paste 
moulding,  51 

Isabella  of  Bavaria,  her  leather 
carpets,  31 ;  her  neglect  of  ordi- 
nary comfort,  33 

Italian  artists  and  craftsman,  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  12  ;  invited  by 
King  Rene,  50 ;  imported  by 
Charles  VIII.,  52  ;  numerous  at 
the  Gobelins,  1 10  ;  reference,  99 

Italian  cabinets,  many  examples 
preserved  in  France,  87 

ItaUan  influence  on  early  French 
manners  and  customs,  6 ;  in  Re- 
naissance period,  50  ;  in  seven- 
teenth century,  82;  under  Ma- 
zarin,  no 

Itahan  style  transformed  into 
national  style,  56.    See  Rocaille. 

Italy,  results  of  expedition  to,  on 
French  taste  and  manners,  60 

Ivory  caskets  in  Museum  at  Dijon, 
39 

Jabodot,  artist, Regency  and  Louis 
XV.  period,  141 


Jack  Straw,  reference,  40 

Jacob,  The  brothers,  workers  in 

mahogany,  163 
Jans,  tapestry  maker  at  Gobelins 

Factory,  107 
"Jardin     de    la     Noblesse,"     by 

Bosse,  reference,  93 
Jardin   des   Plantes,  Paris,  refer- 
ence, 99 
Jarnac,  battle  of,  reference,  79 
Jean  of  Li^ge,  fourteenth-century 

craftsman,  25 
Jeanne  of  Burgundy,  her  *'  Coro- 
nation room"  and  tables,  31 
Jena,  battle  of,  reference,  156 
Jerusalem,  Gothic  treatment  of,  by 

Jean  Le  Pot,  60 
Jesuits    inaugurate     "the    Jesuit 

style,"  84,  85 
Jewel  Cabinet  of  Marie  Antoinette, 

plate  Lix,  160  ;  161 
Joan  of  Arc,  reference,  46 
John  the  Fearless,  chair  of,  38 
John  the   Good,    his  prodigality, 

29 ;  reference,  32 
Jones  collection,  Grand  Bureau  by 

Riesener,  152 
Joubert,  ebenist,  Louis  XV.  period, 

140,  146 
Joyeuse,  Due  de,  magnificence  of 

wedding  festivities,  79 

Kemp,  inlayer,  Empire  style,  158 
Knights  Templars,  reference,  24 

La  Batie  en  Forez,  Chdteau  of^ 

panels  at,  57 
La  Bruyere,  Jean  de,  quoted,  124 
La  Croix,   Robert   Victor,  artist, 

Regency  and  Louis  XV.  period, 

141 
La  Fontaine,  valuation  of  Floren- 
tine table  in  Louvre  Museum,  92 
La  Roue,  C.  L.  de,  artist.  Regency 

and  Louis  XV.  period,  141 
Languedoc,  tomb  of  Genouilhac, 

Governor  of,  77  ;  school  of,  77  ; 

reference,  78 


1 8s 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


Laocoon,  its  treatment  on  example 
in  Spitzer  collection,  76 

Lathuile,  Jean  Pierre,  artist,  Re- 
gency and  Louis  XV.  period, 
141 

Latz,  artist,  reference,  141 

L'Auln,  Etienne  de,  follower  of  Du 
Cerceau  and  Sambin,  76 

Laurana  da  Milano,  Italian  artist, 
50 

Laurent,  or  Flamenc,  of  Ysbres, 
fourteenth-century  craftsman, 
26 

Lazare,  artist,  reference,  141 

*'  Lazare  et  le  Mauvais  Riche,"  by 
Bosse,  reference,  94 

Leather,  its  application  to  four- 
teenth-century "rooms,"  31; 
hangings,  from  Spain,  87 

Le    Barbier,   designer,  reference, 

157 

Le  Blanc,  artist.  Regency  and 
Louis  XV.  period,  141 

Leblanc,  Abbe,  travels  in  Italy 
with  Poussin,  144 

Le  Brun,  Charles,  director  of 
Gobelins  Manufactory,  104  ; 
emancipates  national  style  from 
Italianism,  105;  his  industry  and 
ability,  106 ;  influence  on  art  of 
the  period,  105,  106,  107  ;  some 
artists  who  worked  under  him, 
107,  108;  references,  109,  no, 
113,  114,  115,  116,  118,  126, 
128 

Les  Bruns,  Aman  and  Antoine, 
their  woodwork  at  Tours,  58 

Le  Clerc,  engravers  at  Gobelins 
Manufactory,  107 

Le  Doux,  Charles  Nicolas,  archi- 
tect employed  by  Du  Barry,  148 

Leleu,  Jean  Francois,  his  Louis 
XVI.,  marquetry  work,  157 

"  L'Enfant  Prodigue,"  by  Bosse, 
reference,  94 

Lenoir,  Alexandre,  preserves  ar- 
ticles of  value  during  the  Revo- 
lution, 162 

184 


Le  Pautre,  Antoine,  architect,  re- 
ference, 108 

Le  Pautre,  Jean,  his  designs,  108, 
116 

Le  Pot,  Jean,  author  of  doorway  at 
Beauvais,  59 ;  Gothic  treatment 
of  Jerusalem,  60 

Leprince,  Jean,  painter,  Regency 
and  Louis  XV.  period,  133 

Lespagnandel,  sculptor,  at  Go- 
belins Manfactory,  114 

L'Estoile,  Pierre  de,  French 
chronicler,  records  wedding  of 
Due  de  Joyeuse,  79 

"  Les  Vierges  sage  et  les  Vierges 
folles,"    by     Bosse,    reference, 

94 

Levasseur,  Etienne,  artist.  Re- 
gency and  Louis  XV.  period, 
141,  158 

Limoges,  its  association  with  St. 
Eloi,  II ;  its  enamels,  20 

Linen-fold  design  on  fifteenth-cen- 
tury chests,  43 

Lisbon,  reference,  88 

Liseux  Cathedral,  choir-stalls  at, 

Lit  a  la  duchesse,  or  couch,  among 
Moliere's  effects,  124 

Lit  de  justice  at  Argentelles,  de- 
scription, 41 

Loir,  Alexis,  jeweller,  at  Gobelins 
Manufactory,  107 

Loriot,  artist.  Regency  and  Louis 
XV.  period,  141 

Lorraine,  Duke  of,  a  patron  of 
BouUe,  119;  Bed  of  Duke 
Antoine  de  Lorraine,  plate  xi, 
66 

Louis  VI.,  reference,  19 

Louis  X.,  reference,  31 

Louis  XL,  modifies  statutes  of 
htichiers,  26 ;  costly  purchases 
suggestive  of  new  idea  concern- 
ing, 47  ;  reference,  48 

Louis  XII.,  luxury  characteristic 
of  his  reign,  61  ;  references,  46, 
60,  62 


INDEX 


Louis  XIII.,  a  period  of  foreign 
influence,  82  ;  his  liking  for 
foreign  artists,  84,  92 ;  simplifi- 
cation of  bourgeoisie  furniture, 
94  ;  development  of  the  bureau, 
100  ;  ornate  style  influenced  by 
Le  Pautres,  109 ;  references,  113, 
123  ;  examples,  plates  xxv,  82 ; 
XXVI,  84  ;  XXVII,  84;  XXVIII,  86 

Louis  XIV.,  modifies  huchiers' 
statutes,  26  ;  receptions  in  bed- 
rooms customary,  96  ;  munifi- 
cence aided  by  Colbert,  103  ; 
gives  Le  Brun  directorship  of 
Gobelins  Factory,  104  ;  repre- 
sented as  Apollo  on  cabinet,  112 ; 
encourages  Oppenordt,  117  ; 
delights  in  luxuriousness  of 
Dauphin's  rooms,  119;  de- 
velops taste  for  luxury  among 
middle  class,  123 ;  references, 
82,  105,  106,  III,  116,  1x8,  120, 
128,  133,  134,  139, 140,  143,  153 

Louis  XIV.  style,  its  evolution 
from  foreign  sources  through 
French  artists,  82 ;  apparently 
uninfluenced  by  Spanish  crafts- 
men, 88 ;  1663  beginning  of  art 
history  of  period,  loi ;  diffusion 
in  Holland  aided  by  Marot,  108  ; 
evolved  by  collaborators  of  Le 
Brun,  no ;  Italian  style  merged 
into,  114;  identical  with  those 
of  later  periods,  127;  traditions 
still  retained  by  France,  165 ; 
reference,  72 ;  examples,  plate 
XXX,  104 ;  plate  xxxi,  104 

Louis  XV.  patronises  Meis- 
sonnier's  rocaille  work,  137 ;  re- 
ferences, 126,  133,  147 

Louis  XV.  style,  accentuated  by 
inharmonious  rocaille  decora- 
tion, 128  ;  influenced  by  Chinese 
art,  129;  lowered  in  estimation 
by  excessive  lacquer  work,  132  ; 
some  ebenists  of  the  period, 
140 ;  rocaille  style  suggestive  of 
manners  of  the  period,  141, 143 ; 


Louis  XV.  style — contd. 
references,  127  ;  examples, />/a/^s 
xxxviii,  i28;xxxix,  130;  XL, 
130 ;  XLi,  134  ;  XLii,  136 ;  XLiii, 
138 ;  XLiv,  140 ;  XLV,  140 ;  xlvi, 
i4o;XLvii,  140 

Louis  XVI.  style,  continuation  of 
Louis  IV.  style,  127;  its  finest 
period  that  of  Du  Barry,  143 ; 
spirit  anticipated  by  previous 
ebenists,  145-147;  effects  of 
foreign  influences  and  the  Revo- 
lution, 159,  160;  references,  136, 
143,  151,  158,  163;  examples, 
plates  XLViii,  144 ;  xlix,  146 ; 
L,  146;  LI,  146;  Lii,  i48;nii, 
150;  Liv,  150  ;  LV,  152 

Louis  le  Hongre,  his  lacquer- 
work,  130 

Louveciennes,  residence  of  Mme. 
Du  Barry,  references,  147,  148, 
150 

Louvre,  fourteenth-century  panel- 
ling at,  32  ;  foreign  craftsmen 
employed  at,  84,  87,  92,  99,  10 1 ; 
Apollo  Gallery  decorated  by  Le 
Brun,  104  ;  examples  by  Cucci 
at,  I II ;  cabinets  by  Boulle,  118; 
examples  by  Cressent,  134  ;  Rie- 
sener's  grand  bureau,  152  ;  ex- 
amples by  Carlin,  158  ;  refer- 
ences, 58,  103,  108,  109,  118 

Louvre  Museum,  mosaic  table 
from  Florence,  92  ;  remains  of 
Cucci's  cabinets,  112;  examples 
at,  plates  11,  44  ;  iv,  50  ;  vii,  54  ; 
XXI,  76 ;  xxiii,  80  ;  xxiv,  80  ; 
xxxv,  126 

Luneville,  David  of,  reference,  161 

Maalot,  Martin,  makes  arm-chairs 
for  Philip  v.,  29 

Mahogany  made  fashionable  by 
Beneman,  158 

Maincy  tapestry  factory,  refer- 
ence, 104 

Mantegna's  "  Flagellation,"  refer- 
ence, 53 

A  185 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


MaintenoD,  Madame  de,  reference, 

126 
Mantes,  Seine-et-Oise,  reference, 

37 

Manufacture  Royale  des  Meubles 
de  la  Couronne.     See  Gobelins. 

Maria  Theresa  of  Austria,  Queen, 
reference,  112 

"Mariage  k  la  Campagne,'*  by 
Bosse,  reference,  94 

''  Mariage  k  la  Ville,"  by  Bosse, 
reference,  94 

Marie  Antoinette,  her  jewel  cabi- 
net, plate  Lix,   160;  161 ;  refer- 

.    ences,  154,  158,  162 

Marly,  decorations  superintended 
by  Le  Brun,  106 

Marolles,  Abbe  de,  lines  on  Cucci 
and  Caffieri,  in 

Marot,  Daniel,  associated  with  Le 
Brun, 108 

Marot,  Jean,  architect  and  en- 
graver, 108 

Marquetage  alluded  to  by  Felibien, 
120 

Marqueferie,  coloured,  not  adopted 
by  early  French  cabinet  makers, 
51  ;  of  Riesener's  Grand  Bureau 
du  Roi,  153  ;  chess-board  style 
adopted  by  Riesener,  155 

Marqueterie,  tortoiseshell  and 
brass  decoration  not  invented 
by  BouUe,  115 

Martellange,  Etienne,  inaugurates 
"Jesuit  style,"  85;  references, 
91,  105 

Martin,  Robert,  artist  in  lacquer- 
work,  131,  132;  family  famous 
for  their  work,  ib.  ;  references, 

^33,  137 

Martin,  sculptor,  Louis  XVL 
period,  158 

Mazarin,  Cardinal,  introduces 
Italian  artists,  92  ;  Colbert  a 
pupil  of,  loi ;  attracts  foreigners 
to  France,  no;  his  apprecia- 
tion of  Chinese  art,  129 ;  refer- 
ences, 112,  113,  ns,  130 

186 


Mazarin  Library,  reference,  iiS 
Meaux,  chest  of  drawers  in  bishop's 

residence  at,  plate  xxxvi,  126 
Mechanical     tables     by  Sulpice, 

Arnold  and  Loriet,  141 
Medal    cabinet    by  Slodtz,   plate 

XLV,  140.     See  Cabinets. 
Mediaeval  carpentry,  knowledge  of, 

essential  in  judging  early  work, 

45 
Medici,  Catherine  of,  at  Field  of 

Cloth  of  Gold,  62  ;  her  fetes,  79; 

Italian  influence    strengthened 

by,  84  ;  references,  78,  82,  83,  84 
Meissonnier,  Just  Aurele,  his  ro- 

caille  work,  136  ;  references,  129, 

139,  147  

Melun,  Bishop  Jean  de,  choir  stalls 
at  Poitiers,  17 

Metmisiers  en  Ebene,  originated  by 
Henri  IV.,  87 

Metternich  family,  their  table  by 
Caffieri,  140 

Michael  Angelo,  alluded  to,  64 

Michelozzi,  corbels  at  Milan,  by,  53 

Migeon,  his  toilette  furniture  for 
Mme.  de  Pompadour,  140 

MigUorini,  Fernando  and  Horatio, 
introduced  to  Louis  XIII.  by 
Mazarin,  92;  reference,  107 

Mignard,  Nicolas  leJRomain,  deco- 
rates apartments  of  Dauphin,  120 

Mignard,  Pierre,  painter,  note,  120 

Milan,  corbels  at,  53 

Ministere  de  la  Justice,  bureau  de- 
scribed, 139 

Ministere  de  la  Marine,  Cabinet 
des  Estampes,  146 

Ministry  of  the  Interior,  Console, 
Louis  XVI.,  plate  liv,  150 

Mirrors  introduced  as  decorations 
by  Italians,  99 

Misereres,  in  Notre  Dame  de  la 
Roche,  17  ;  at  Lisieux,  25  ;  pro- 
fane subjects  frequent,  35 ; 
Calvin  with  pig's  head,  78 ; 
example  from  St.  Denis,  plate 
VIII,  58.     See  Stall 


INDEX 


Mobilier  National,  cylindrical 
bureau  by  Riesener,  153 

Moliere,  inventory  of  his  bedroom 
furniture,  121-123  ;  reference, 
130 

Molinier,  Emile,  his  reference  to 
Italian  influence  on  French 
artists,  53 

Monnaie,  designed  by  Antoine, 
reference,  146 

Monnoyer,  painter,  associated 
with  Le  Brun,  107 

Montal,  chateau  planned  by  Ba- 
chelier,  77 

Montargis,  chdteau  designed  by 
Du  Cerceau,  67  ;  choir  of  church 
of  the  Madeleine  rebuilt  by 
Du  Cerceau,  ib. 

Montigny,  ebenist,  Louis  XVI. 
period,  158 

Montluc,  Blaise  de,  French  mar- 
shal, reference,  80 

Moorish  traces  in  seventeenth- 
century  Spanish  cabinets,  88 

Moselmen,  Pierre,  fourteenth-cen- 
tury craftsman,  26 

"  Most  excellent  buildings  of 
France,"  designs  by  Du  Cer- 
ceau, 67 

Mulberry-tree,  cultivation  leads  to 
silk  manufacture  at  Lyons,  98 

Munich,  reference,  66 

Musee  des  Petits  Augustins,  filled 
with  treasures  at  the  Revolu- 
tion, 162 

Nancy  Museum,  example  from, 
plate  XI,  66 

Napoleon  L,  evil  effects  of  his 
rule  on  the  arts,  126, 163  ;  foreign 
influences  of  his  period,  160  ; 
detrimental  results  of  inartistic 
nature,  164  ;  Gothic  revival  after 
his  fall  without  vitality,  165 

National  printing  establishment, 
formerly  Hotel  de  Rohan, 
Martin  style  of  decoration  at, 
133 


Neuwied,  references,  161,  162 
Norman  influence  on   Gothic  art 

shown  on  carvings  at  Amiens, 

36 
Notre  Dame,  Paris,  work  of  trans- 

sition  period  at,  37  ;  reference, 

49 

Notre  Dame  de  la  Roche,  wood- 
carving  of,  19 

Noyon  Cathedral,  armoirc  with 
painted  folding  doors  at,  14 

Nuremberg  craftsmen,  reference, 
89 

Obazine,  Church  of,  armoire  once 
belonging  to,  13 

Oeben,  Jean  Francois,  ebenist, 
chronological  problem  concern- 
ing,  151  ;  references,   152,   154, 

159 
Oeben,  or  Hobenne,  Simon,  ebenist 

to  the  King,  151 
"  CEuvres  de  Charite,"  by  Bosse, 

reference,  94 
"  (Euvre  de  ladiversite  destermes 

dont  on  use  en  architecture,"  by 

Sambin,  reference,  71 
Oppenordt,  Alexandre  Jean,  Flem- 
ish artist,  117,  128,  134 
Orange,  Prince  of,  engages  Marot 

as  architect,  108 
Orleans,  Dukes  of,  reference,  39 

Pagny,  chateau  decorated  by 
Sambin,  70 

Painted  canvas  used  for  covering 
seats,  31 

Painted  marqueterie  and  Italian 
plaques  assimilated  by  French 
craftsmen,  57 

Painting  used  in  decorating  early 
examples,  14,  32,  74 ;  painting 
on  panels  not  adopted  by  early 
French  craftsmen,  51 

Pajou,  Augustin,  sculptor,  refer- 
ence, 149 

Palazzo  Cancelleria,  Rome,  de- 
signs for,  by  Du  Cerceau,  66 


187 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


Panels,  in  tower  of  Louvre,  32 ; 
Lit  de  Justice,  Argentelles,  41  ; 
at  Cluny  and  Abbey  of  St. 
Denis  from  Chateau  of  Gai- 
Uon,  53;  Chateaux  of  Ecouen 
and  Chantilly,  57  ;  Chateau  of 
La  Batie,  57  ;  Chateau  of  Fon- 
tainebleau,  58  ;  Panel  of  cup- 
board, school  of  Sambin,  plate 
xyi,  72 

Paris,  fifteenth  century  armoires 
Sit  Treasury  of  St.  Germain 
I'Auxerrois,  44 ;  municipality 
presents  Talon  with  a  German 
piece  of  furniture,  83  ;  pur- 
chases famous  German  piece 
for  ceremonial  gift,  89  ;  Gates 
designed  by  Le  Brun,  106  ; 
examples  in  Exhibition,  plates 
III,  46  ;  XXXVII,  126 

Parvis,  Jacques  de,  fourteenth- 
century  panelling  in  Louvre,  32 

Pasquier,  ebenist,  reference,  157 

Paste  mouldings,  not  adopted  by 
early  French  craftsmen,  51 

Penthesilea,  subject  of  fourteenth- 
century  hangings,  30 

Perreal,  Jean,  figures  at  Brou  de- 
signed by,  37 

Percheron,  surnamed  Lochon, 
contemporary  of  BouUe,  117 

Percier,  Charles,  designer,  Empire 
style,  164 

Petit,  Nicolas,  artist,  Regency  and 
Louis  XV.  period,  141 

Petit  Trianon,  Versailles,  example 
a.t,  plate  l,  146 

Phidias,  cited  as  a  precedent  for 
painting  furniture,  74 

Philip  n.  of  Spain,  reference,  78 

Philip  IV.  the  Fair,  references,  24, 
29 

Philip  v.,  his  arm-chairs  by  Maa- 
lot,  29 

Philip  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
references,  36,  39 

Philip  of  Orleans  (Regent),  refer- 
ences, 128,  134,  136 

188 


Picheneau,  Pierre  and  Guillaume 
fourteenth-century  craftsmen,25 

Pierre  of  Neufchdteau,  fourteenth- 
century  craftsman,  25 

Pietro  da  Milano,  artist,  employed 
by  King  Rene,  50 

Pineau,  artist.  Regency  and  Louis 
XV.  period,  141 

Pionnier,  Pierre,  artist,  reference, 
141 

Pisistratus,  tyrant  of  Athens,  re- 
ference, 10 

Pleney,  artist,  Regency  and  Louis 
XV.  period,  141 

Plessis  les  Tours,  last  abode  of 
Louis  XL,  47 

Plutarch,  translation  by  Amyot, 
reference,  61 

Poitiers,  pulpit  of  St.  Radegund, 
13 ;  choir  stalls  at,  17  ;  refer- 
ence, 19 

Poitou,  Pierre,  ebenist  at  Gobelins 
Factory,  107,  117 

Pomerania,  Duke  of,  cabinet  made 
for,  89 

Pompadour,  Marquise  de,  employs 
the  Martins,  132  ;  rewards 
Migeon  with  pension,  140  ; 
obtains  post  of  Directeur- 
General  des  Batimentsdu  Roi  for 
her  brother,  144;  reference,  152 

Pompeii,  artists  influenced  by  dis- 
coveries at,  144 

Pope.     See  Boniface  VI IL 

Portability  of  early  furniture 
essential,  i,  28,  30,  50 

Portugal,  reference,  83 

Portuguese  style,  its  influence 
small,  88 

Poussin,  Fran9ois,  obtains  post  of 
Directeur-General  des  Bati- 
ments  du  Roi,  144 

Pradel's  "  Livre  Commode,"  re- 
cords (1692)  three  lacquer- 
works  in  Paris,  130 

Precieuses  of  Hotel  Rambouillet, 
their  use  of  the  seventeenth- 
century  alcove,  96 


INDEX 


Protestantism,    influence    of,    96, 

97 
Prud'hon,  Pierre  Paul,  designer, 

Empire  style,  163 

Prussia,  King  of,  employs  one  of 

Martin's  sons,  132 

Rabelais,  reference,  61 

"  Rape  of  Helen,''  bronze,  refer- 
ence, 118 

"  Recueil  d'Antiquit^s "  of  De 
Caylus,  reference,  144 

Regency  and  its  style,  126  ;  iden- 
tical with  Louis  XIV.  style,  127; 
Cressent's  influence  during,  133; 
"  rocaille  '*  not  popular  until  its 
closing  period,  137 ;  at  the  close 
suggestive  of  manners  of  the 
period,  141 ;  examples,  plates, 
XXXII,  126;  XXXIII,  126 ;  XXXIV, 
126;  XXXV,  126;  XXXVI,  126; 
XXXVII,  126 

Religious  sentiment,  effects  on  the 
arts  in  early  times,  20 

Renaissance,  its  influence  felt 
before  1500,  34;  historic  data 
to  be  noted  when  studying 
periods  of  transition,  45  ;  origi- 
nated in  France  at  a  time  favour- 
able for  the  adoption  of  Latin 
models,  50 ;  geographical  classi- 
fication of  styles  difficult  or 
impossible,  55  ;  Italian  style 
transformed  by  French  artists 
into  Henri  II.  style,  56  ;  claims 
of  critics  as  to  origin  of  works 
of  this  period,  57  ;  prompt 
acceptance  of  the  new  ideas, 
61  ;  leaders  animated  by  high 
ideals,  64 ;  French  sculptors 
not  copyists,  but  interpreters, 
64  ;  references,  45,  48,  49,  63, 
98  ;  examples,  plates  iv,  50  ;  v, 
52  ;  VI,  53  ;  VII,  54 

Ren^,  King,  reference,  50 

Ren^e  of  Ferrara,  reference,  67 

Reredoses,  from  Dijon,  of  Jacques 
de  Baerze,  36,  38 


Restoration,  style  so-called,  127 

Revolution,  effects  disastrous  to 
art,  160,  162  ;  references,  126, 
143,  163 

Rheims  Cathedral,  reference,  49 

Richelieu,  favours  Italian  produc- 
tions, 92 

Richter,  Charles,  artist.  Empire 
period,  161 

Riesener,  ebenist,  Louis  XV. 
period,  birth  and  apprentice- 
ship to  Oeben,  151;  marries 
Oeben's  widow,  152 ;  follower  of 
Cressent  and  Caffieri,  153  ;  his 
borrowing  of  copper  ornaments 
and  designs,  154,  156,  157; 
loses  his  fortune  and  dies  in 
poverty,  155;  references,  147, 
151,  156,  159,  163  ;  example, 
small  desk,  Louis  XVI.,  plate 
XLVIII,  144 

Rocaille  or  Italian  Rococo  style,  in 
vogue  during  Louis  XV.  period, 
128 ;  of  Itahan  origin,  136  ; 
popular  at  close  of  Regency 
period,  137  ;  Jacques  Caffieri  its 
cleverest  exponent,  138,  139; 
term  suggestive  of  manners  of 
Louis  XV.  period,  141  ;  engraver 
Cochin  adverse  to,  144 ;  ex- 
amples, decorative  bronzes  of 
Riesener's  Great  Bureau,  152; 
references,  143,  147,  151,  153 

Rodez,  work  of  transition  period 
at,  37;  choir-screen  of  cathe- 
dral, 77 

Roentgen,  David.  See  David  of 
Luneville. 

Romanesque  style,  its  absorption 
of  the  Gallic  style,  10  ;  refer- 
ence, 49 

Rome,  reference,  85 

"  Rooms,"  or  leather  hangings, 
description,  30 

"Rosier  des  Guerres,"  reference, 

49 
Rotrou,    Jean,    French   dramatic 
poet,  bust  by  J.J.  Caffieri,  139 

189 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


Rouen,  Archbishop  of  (George  of 

Amboise),  woodwork  of  Chateau 

of  Gaillon,  53 
Rousselet,      engraver,     Gobelins 

Manufactory,  107 
Rubens,  reference,  90 
JRtielle,  or  narrow  passage,  its  use 

in  seventeenth  century,  96 

St.  Andoche  de  Saulieu,  carved 
seats  at,  18  ;  carvings  influenced 
by  secondary  considerations,  25 

St.  Andre,  Marshal,  magnificence 
of  his  furniture,  62 

St.  Aure,  convent  of,  founded  by 
St.  Eloi,  II 

St.  Bavon,  reference,  10 

St.  Benoit-sur-Loire,  elbow-rests 
at,  25 

St.  Claude,  Cathedral,  examples 
of  transition  period  at,  37 

St.  Cloud,  Chateau  de,  Carlin  and 
Riesener  concerned  in  its  furni- 
ture, 157 

St.  Denis,  Abbey  of,  Abbot  Suger's 
Latin  inscription,  quoted,  21 ; 
wainscot  panels  at,  53  ;  dese- 
cration of  its  shrines,  92 ; 
example  from  Miserere  Stall, 
plate  VIII,  58 

St.  Eloi,  employed  by  Clotaire  to 
make  his  throne,  11  ;  founds 
Convent  of  St.  Aure,  1 1 ;  tra- 
ditional arm-chair  of  Dagobert 
described,  ib.;  his  artistic 
labours  continued  by  the 
monks,  19 

St.  Eustache,  Church  of,  Le  Brun 
makes  plans  for,  106 

St.  Genevieve,  Abbey  of,  cabinet 
of  medals  now  in  Bibliotheque 
Nationale,  136 

St.  Germain-en-Laye,  reasons  for 
supposing  decorations  were  by 
French  artists,  58 ;  Le  Brun 
makes  plans  for,  106 

St.  Igny,  Jean  de,  engraver,  refer- 
ence, 93 

190 


St.  Jerome,  engravings,  reference, 

54 
St.  Ouen,  historian,  reference,  10 
St.  Paul  des  Champs,  Church  of 

in    the    *' Culture    Saint  Eloi," 

II 
St.  Peter's,  Rome,  Du  Cerceau's 

designs  for,  66 
St.  Pol  de  Leon,  wood  carvings, 

late    examples   of    Gothic  art, 

37 

St.  Radegund,  pulpit  of,  appa- 
rently work  of  sixth  century,  13 

St.  Sauveur,  Aix,  wood-carving 
embodying  Gothic  and  Italian 
styles  at,  51 

St.  Sepulcre,  stone  screen  in 
chapel  of,  77 

Salins,  near  Besangon,  defensive 
works  superintended  by  Sambin, 

71 

Salting  collection,  sixteenth-cen- 
tury armoire  from  Spitzer  col- 
lection, 76 

Sambin,  Hugues,  engravings  by, 
65  ;  some  account  of  his  works 
and  style,  70,  71  ;  instrumental 
in  causing  revival  of  mediaeval 
period,  72  ;  table  and  armoire  in 
Museum  of  Besan9on,  72  :  used 
painting  as  decoration,  74  ; 
fusion  of  style  with  that  of  Du 
Cerceau,  76  ;  references,  75,  77, 
83  ;  examples,  plates  xiii,  70  ; 
XVI,  72  ;  XVII,  74  ;  xx,  76 

Saunier,  Claude  Charles,  artist, 
Louis  XVI.  period,  157 

Savoy,  Duke  of,  patron  of  Boulle, 
119 

Schmitz,  Peter,  craftsman.  Empire 
period,  161 

Schneider,  Gaspard,  craftsman, 
continues  Empire  style,  i6i 

Schwerdfeger,  chief  author  of 
jewel  cabinet  of  Marie  Antoi- 
nette, 161  ;  plate  Lix,  160 

Screen,  example  in  inventory  of 
Moliere's  effects,  124 


INDEX 


Secretaire,  Louis  XV.,  South  Ken- 
sington Museum,  plaU  xlvi, 
140 

Secular  influences  of  fourteenth 
century,  24 

Seibecq,  Francisque,  called  De 
Carpi,  Italian  employed  at  Fon- 
tainebleau,  58 

Seventeenth  century,  efforts  of 
French  artists  in  evolving  Louis 
XIV.  style  during,  82  ;  example, 
plate  XXIX,  go 

S6verin,  an  imitator  of  Boulle,  158 

Sevres  porcelain,  round  table  in, 
formerly  among  Du  Barry 
effects,  149 ;  combined  with 
mahogany  by  Riesener,  155  ; 
plates  XLii,  136  ;  xlvi,  140  ; 
XLVii,  140 

Seyssel,  Charles,  on  the  lavishness 
of  Louis  XIL  period,  quoted,  61 

Siam,  King  of,  a  patron  of  Boulle, 
119 

Sideboard,  Francis  I. opiate  xv,  72 

Sidonius  ApoUinaris,  describes 
fifth-century  fete,  7 

Simplification  of  middle  class  fur- 
niture during  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, 96 

Singeries,  so-called,  of  Gillot,  128, 
133,  136 

Sixteenth  century,  works  with 
traces  of  Gothic  style  to  be 
relegated  to  first  part  of,  55  ; 
Henri  IL  style,  63;  examples, 
plates  VIII,  58;  IX,  62  ;  X,  64; 
XI,  66  ;  XII,  68  ;  xiii,  70  ;  xiv, 
72  ;  XVI,  72  ;  XVII,  74  ;  xviii, 
74  ;  XIX,  76  ;  XX,  76  ;  xxi,  76  ; 
XXII,  78  ;  XXIII,  80  ;  XXIV,  80. 
See  Renaissance. 

Slodtz,  The  brothers,  designers, 
Louis  XV.  period,  followers  of 
Cressent,  137  ;  work  suggestive 
of  final  evolution  of  century, 
146 ;  references,  140,  147  ;  ex- 
ample, medal  cabinet, Versailles, 
plate  XLV,  140 


Socles^  or  pedestals,  among  Du 
Cerceau's  designs,  67 

Sofas,  Louis  XV.,  plate  XL,  130  ; 
Louis  XVL,  plate  l,  146  ;  plate 
LI,  146 

Soissons,  historic  vase  of  Clovis 
at,  10 

Sommord,  craftsman,  contem- 
porary of  Boulle,  117 

Soufflot,  Jacques  Germain,  accom- 
panies Fran9ois  Poussin  to  Italy, 
144 

Soulages  collection,  dresser  an 
example  of  composite  styles  of 
Du  Cerceau  and  Sambin,  76 

South  Kensington  Museum,  dresser 
from  Soulages  collection,  76, 
yy ;  pier-glass,  seventeenth-cen- 
tury, 87  ;  examples  of  varguenos, 
cabinets  of  Spanish  origin,  88  ; 
bureau  in  Jones  collection,  152  ; 
examples  at,  Louis  XV.  secre- 
taire, plate  XLVI,  140 ;  Louis 
XV.  writing-table,  plate  xlvii, 
141 ;  Louis  XVI.  arm-chair,  plate 
XLIX,  146 

Spain,  its  painted  and  gilded 
leather  hangings,  87  ;  influence 
indirect,  through  Italy,  88 

Spain,  Isabella,  Queen  of,  enter- 
tained by  Catherine  de  Medici, 

79 

Spitzer  collection,  armoire,  late 
sixteenth  century,  76 

Stabre,  Laurent,  Flemish  deco- 
rator, employed  by  Henri  IV. 
and  Louis  XIII.,  84,  92 

Stall,  end  offifteenth  century,  Paris 
Exhibition,  1900,  plate  iii,  46 

Stokel,  Joseph,  craftsman,  Em- 
pire period,  161 

Styles,  their  evolution  the  result 
of  great  events  in  national  his- 
tory, 3 

Suger,  Abbot,  his  inscription  on 
doorway  of  St.  Denis,  21 

Sulpice,  his  mechanical  tables, 
Louis  XV.  period,  141 

191 


FRENCH  FURNITURE 


Sumptuary  laws  unsuccessful  in 

checking  luxury,  40 
Sums  paid  for  artistic  furniture, 

112,  113,  121-3,  132 
Suzon  river,  its  course  regulated 

by  Sambin,  70 

Tables  :  Charlemagne's  three 
wonderful,  12 ;  example  in 
Bardac  collection,  marvel  of 
lightness  and  strength,  41 ; 
tables  of  Du  Cerceau  (Henri  II.), 
described,  69 ;  example  by 
Sambin  in  Besangon  Museum, 
72,  73  ;  mosaic,  in  Louvre,  made 
for  Richelieu,  92 ;  Du  Cerceau's 
square  tables,  95 ;  Caifieri's 
table  owned  by  Metternich 
family,  140;  in  Sevres  and 
French  porcelain  among  Du 
Barry  effects,  149,  150;  example 
by  Riesener  at  Trianon,  Ver- 
sailles, 154;  plates  XVII,  74; 
XX,  76;  xxxiv,   126;    xxxvii, 

126;   XLII,  136;   XLVII,  140 

Table-covers,  their  original  uses, 

98 
Taffetas  made  at  Tours,  99 
Talon,  Avocat-General,  presented 

with  piece  of  German  furniture, 

Tapestry  curtains,  reference,  42 

hangings,  fourteenth-century, 

some  of  the  subjects,  30 
Tarsia^  Italian  mosaic  marquetry, 

51,88 
Terborch,  Gerard,  Dutch  painter, 

94,98 
Terrasson,       fifteenth       century 

huchier,  37 
Theodoric,  King  of  the  Visigoths, 

reference,  9 
Thermae  of  Diocletian,  Du  Cer- 
ceau's copies,  66 
Thierry,  King  of  the  Franks,  gives 

valuable  vase  to  Clotaire,  10 
Thomire,     pupil     of    Gouthiere, 

Empire  period,   157,    158,   161, 

192 


Thomire — contd. 

163,  164 ;  author  of  caryatides 
of  Marie  Antoinette's  Jewel 
Cabinet,  plate  lix,  i  60 

Tixerandrie,  Rue  de  la,  Paris, 
manufacture  of  work  in  Chinese 
style  at,  99,  130 

Tortoiseshell  plaques  by  BouUe,  86 

Toul  Cathedral,  names  of  four- 
teenth-century carvers,  25 

Toulouse,  Bridge  of  Saint  Subra 
begun  by  Bachelier,  77;  door- 
way of  Saint  Saturnin,  Bachelier 
its  reputed  sculptor,  ib. 

Tours,  part  of  Fontainebleau 
woodwork  produced  at,  58; 
celebrated  for  coarse  taffetas, 
99  ;  references,  52,  93 

Tours  Museum,  fifteenth-century 
chest  at,  43 

Trianon,  table  with  symbols  of 
geography  and  astronomy  by 
Riesener  at,  154 

Tricoteuse  de  la  Reine,  by  Rie- 
sener, 155 

Troo,  Loir-et-Cher,  works  of 
transition  period  at  church  of,37 

Tuby,  Giovanni  Battista,  sculptor, 
Gobelins  Factory,  107,  114 

Turners'  work  introduced  into  Du 
Cerceau's  square  tables,  95 ; 
reference,  98 

Urfe,  Claude  d',  builds  Chdteau 
of  La  Bdtie  en  Forez,  57 

Vallery,  estate  of  Marshal  St. 
Andre,  62 

Valois,  House  of,  references,  63, 
79,80 

Van  der  Meulens,  Dutch  painters. 
Gobelins  Manufactory,  107 

Vanloo,  painting  by,  among  Du 
Barry  effects,  149 

Van  Ostade,  Dutch  painter,  refer- 
ence, 94 

Varin,  engraver  at  the  Louvre 
108 


INDEX 


Varquenos,  cabinets  from  Spain,  88 
Varguo,  in  Toledo,  reference,  88 
Vaux,  Chdteau  owned  by  Fouquet, 

104 
Vendome,     works    of    transition 
period  at  Church  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  37 
Venice,  references,  54,  85 
Vermeer,    Dutch    painter,   refer- 
ence, 94 
Vernisseur  du  Roi,  Robert  Martin 

so  styled,  131 
Versailles,  decorations  superin- 
tended by  Le  Brun,  106  ;  con- 
soles there  attributed  to  Le 
Pautres,  109 ;  carved  folding 
doors  of  great  staircase  attri- 
buted to  Caffieri,  114;  Oppen- 
ordt  designs  parquet  floor 
for  small  gallery,  117;  Slodtz's 
cabinet  for  medals  formerly 
there,  138  ;  sum  paid  to  Caffieri 
for  work  in  Chapel,  113;  re- 
ferences, iig,  130,  132,  147; 
examples  at,  plates  xxxi,  104  ; 
XL,  130;  XLV,  140;  L,  146; 
Lix,  160 
Vesuvius,  Mount,  reference,  144 
Viard,  Philippot,  fourteenth -cen- 
tury carver,  25 
Villefranche,  Carthusian  monas- 
tery, work  of  transition  period 

at,  37 

Villers,  Claude  de,  jeweller.  Gobe- 
lins Manufactory,  107 

Vinci,  Leonardo  da,  visited  by 
Francis  L,  61 

Vitry,  Jacques,  Bishop  of,  quoted, 
40 

Voisin,  painter.  Regency  and 
Louis  XV.,  period,  141 


Voltaire,  on  Martin  lacquer-work, 

quoted,  132 
Vos,  De,  Flemish  cabinets  by,  in 

Italian  style,  91 
"  Voyage  de  Jeune  Anacharsis  en 

Grece,"  by  Abb6    Barthelemy, 

reference,  145 
Vriendt,    De,     surnamed    Floris, 

Flemish  cabinets  by,  91 

Wallace  collection,  Boulle's 
"four  seasons,"  118;  commode 
by.Cressent,  131;  Cressent's  work 
in,  134;  commode  by  Caffieri, 
139 ;  Carlin's  work  in,  158 ; 
examples.  Commode,  Regency 
period,  Charles  Cressent,  plate 
xxxiii,  126 ;  Louis  XV.  Com- 
mode, Jacques  Caffieri,  plate 
XLiii,  138 

Watteau,  Jean  Antoine,  refer- 
ences, 128,  133,  134, 136, 142, 149 

Weisweiler,  craftsman,  Empire 
style,  i6i  ;  example,  small 
Desk,  Louis  XVL  period,  plate 
Lv,  152 

Werner,  Joseph,  miniatures  by, 
formerly  part  of  cabinet  by 
Cucci,  112 

Winant,  sculptor,  collaborator 
with  Riesener,  152 

Winckelmann,  J.  J.,  on  the  Imita- 
tion of  Greek  Art,  145 

Windsor  Castle,  armoires  of  BouUe 
at,  118 

Writing-tables,  plates  xlii,  136; 
XLVii,  140 

YvART,  painter.  Gobelins  Manu- 
factory, 107 


Printed  by  Ballantyne  &>  Co.  Limited 
Tavistock  Street,  London 


193 


^ 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 


This  book  is  4^!©  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


JAN  6     1262 


■^rr 


JM  28  1963 


MAR  2fi  1977 


MAR  9    1963 


DECS 


A 


Ml0'ffe$;.  tm  I?  IAN3  0.038 


FEB21196B    W^R  1  5  1980      1/ 


(;0V2  8l96G 


JAN  30  1967 


i;:.-;;;ll    19^9 


MAR  1 7  1969 


MAR  2     1972 


(\PR2     ^9^3  0  0 


LD  21-50m-8,'57 
(,C8481sl0)476 


N 


